


The Less You'll See

by ficamaze



Series: The Less You'll See [1]
Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-07-28 15:01:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 60,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7645798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ficamaze/pseuds/ficamaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Daniel meet during their senior year of high school, and as the story follows them through the next milestone, one thing is clear: the Horsemen are still magic, and they probably always will be. (Lover's Death) (NYSM 1 & 2 Reimagined)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. July 2006: Card Tricks

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover's Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 4) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I always say that the closer you look, the less you’ll see. Check your pocket.”
> 
> Jack stares at the boy incredulously for a split second before he complies. His heart skips a little when he feels a thin card nestled in his front pocket, and laughs loudly when he sees the seven of diamonds in his hand.
> 
> “Oh, man, you are a magical piece of work,” Jack said happily.

Senior year really was something to look forward to for Jack Wilder. He wasn’t quite sure why he agreed to take summer preparatory classes for college admissions, given how college was not quite his plan. No, he really wanted to take the world by storm and be the greatest sleight of hand the world has ever seen. This was something he didn’t confide with his parents, though he knew they would probably find it in their blessedly lovely hearts to support whatever calling he had in life. In this case, it was magic, and it always will be.

He was waiting for the rest of the class to fill up, absently shuffling his cards deftly. He was in his element too, and was only brought back to reality by a voice at the very back of the room.

“Nice shuffle.”

Jack turned around to meet the eyes of the speaker, the only one in the room apart from him. The impossibly blue eyes belonged to a boy about his age, and in the same precise and slightly high-pitched voice, the speaker continued. “Know any other tricks?”

Jack broke into a grin, and the boy reciprocated by turning one corner of his lips upward. “Lift your pencil up high, man,” Jack prompted.

The boy’s left eyebrow raised slightly, but he obeyed Jack’s request nonetheless. Jack scurried over to the very front of the room with one card in hand, took aim, and flicked his wrist quickly. As planned, his card whooshed past the blue-eyed boy, and half his pencil fell on the table in front of him.

There was no mistaking the excited whoop that escaped the boy’s mouth as he dropped the other half of the pencil and started clapping, shaking his head. A very real smile was on his face, and Jack felt a strange happiness knowing that he put that smile on that new face. He gave a mock bow.

“I have to say, that was quite… impressive,” the boy said in an appreciative tone.

“Hey, thanks man, I’m glad you think so,” Jack said as he jogged back to the seats, but this time making his way closer to the boy, who had also moved a few rows down as he was clapping for Jack. “Are you into card tricks?”

His new friend scoffed as he pulled out a deck of cards from his back pocket. Jack’s heart skipped a beat – finally, a fellow magician! “If you would call magic ‘card tricks’, then yes, I suppose I am.” He turns his blue eyes on his deck and does a few flashy shuffles before looking Jack straight in the eye. “I’m going to flip through this deck. Keep in mind what card catches your eye – no, not this one, that’s too obvious.” He points to the two of hearts at the bottom of the deck, and Jack chuckles. “Ready?”

Jack nodded. The boy flipped through the deck, and a five or seven of diamonds catches Jack’s eye. He must have frowned, because the boy prompted him, “One more time?”

Jack nods again, and this time he is able to focus more clearly on the seven of diamonds. The boy closes the deck and shuffles the cards again. “Do you have one in mind?” he asks Jack.

“Yes,” Jack confirmed.

The boy spreads out the cards to face Jack. “Is your card here?”

Jack scans the deck for the seven of diamonds and does not find it. “No.”

“That’s because you’re looking too closely,” the boy berates with a smile. “I always say that the closer you look, the less you’ll see. Check your pocket.”

Jack stares at the boy incredulously for a split second before he complies. His heart skips a little when he feels a thin card nestled in his front pocket, and laughs loudly when he sees the seven of diamonds in his hand.

“Oh, man, you are a magical piece of work,” Jack said happily.

The boy shrugged, unable to feign much modesty. “Oh, it would have been more impressive if I could have done it outdoors. Nothing like your card coming out on the side of a building to add to the showmanship of it all.”

“The side of a building, huh?”

Jack’s companion nodded. “Assuming I know the tower’s electrician, and I have at least fifty bucks on me.”

Jack laughed. “Is it usually the seven of diamonds?”

Blue eyes twinkled at that question. “I can do that trick fifty-two different ways.”

“Yeah, but can you do any other tricks, man?” Jack teased.

The boy’s eyebrows wagged playfully. “Well, let’s see what I can do,” he teases as he extends a hand to Jack. “J. Daniel Atlas.”

Jack took his hand eagerly. “Jack Wilder, now a huge fan of yours.”

Daniel smiled slightly. “You’re not so bad yourself, Jack.”

Jack checked his watch. “You know, we have about half an hour before people even start showing up. How about we grab a drink and you teach me how you did that trick?”

“Only if you teach me how to slice pencils in half with a card,” Daniel countered.

“Deal, Daniel.”

“Call me Danny.”


	2. September 2006: The Showman and The Sleight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were called The Showman and The Sleight, filling the gaps between classes with amazing tricks that wowed their classmates. Daniel and Jack were pretty much inseparable, meeting well before and staying way after class to practice the craft that was both their lover and mistress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover's Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 4) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

Wherever they were, the next months were just… full of magic.

They were called The Showman and The Sleight, filling the gaps between classes with amazing tricks that wowed their classmates. Daniel and Jack were pretty much inseparable, meeting well before and staying way after class to practice the craft that was both their lover and mistress.

Their classmates knew it was a strange friendship that only made sense to the two: Daniel was withdrawn, guarded, with little to no words directed to anyone else but Jack, whereas Jack was warm, open, and basically the Everyman everybody loved.

Jack should have known it was only a matter of time before someone got an idea that basically turned into a rumor that everyone maintained was fact. Not that he minded, since he knew he and Danny really were just pals – neither of them were interested in boys, of course not, that never happened and that never will…

“Okay, you’re either thinking long and hard about something, or you’ve got something long and hard about to come out of you,” came a sneering voice from above him, “But either way, I’m sensing some real tension here. Pun intended on that long and hard thing, by the way.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Go take a crap, Merritt.”

“No can do, not when there’s so much to see here, Jack-o.” Merritt McKinney adjusted his hat by the rim and peered into Jack’s eyes. Jack stopped himself from shifting uncomfortably, unwilling to give anything away to the psychology major in front of him. No one annoying should be that talented. Merritt smiled lightly. “Yup, it’s there, you’ve got some real tension to share and resolve with Atlas.”

Jack groaned, resenting the fact that despite Merritt was probably just two years older than himself, he never failed to feel like one of his uncles had gotten obnoxiously drunk and was embarrassing him to no end during the annual Wilder Christmas reunion. “Why don’t you just teach the class and put something useful in our heads like you’re supposed to instead of trying to unsuccessfully get something useless from people’s heads, Mer?” he snapped.

“Oh, someone’s getting a little tense,” Merritt teased. “Should I call Danny to help you out with that?”

“Merritt, I swear to God, if you even so much as think of Danny as—“

“You guys talking about my ass? That’s pretty rude,” came Daniel’s teasing voice.

Jack rolled his eyes. “No, the great mentalist here is insinuating that you and I are well on our way to doing the dirty. If that isn’t the most ridiculous thing you’ve heard, yeah?”

Merritt was pretty good at what he did, and he prided himself of being able to detect the slightest tics that people would often overlook: the smirking Jack was completely oblivious to the fleeting look of pain that slipped through the cracks of his friend’s stony face before it broke into a cold smile.

“Yeah, Merritt, are you high or something?” Daniel said without much humor, looking at Merritt with carefully hooded eyes that almost betrayed nothing, even to Merritt. Almost.

Something in Daniel’s blue eyes told Merritt to stop right where he was, and so to save face (though not his own), Merritt smirked and shrugged indifferently. “Well, I tried to get your attention to segue into a full account of how horribly written both your last essays were. You’re kind of insulting my intelligence here, guys.”

“Yeah, there was some of that to insult? I’m shocked.”

They were down to the last few days of class. Senior year was barely a week away, and Jack could not believe just how much his last real summer had flown by from the time he met Danny. They didn’t even spare each other a proper goodbye on their last day, instead parting ways like how they did every day, with a simple “See you, man,” and “Bye, Jack,” – like he would see Danny again the next day, when really, he had absolutely no idea where his friend lived. Funny how they never actually got around to asking about those little details.

Some tiny part of Jack, whether he liked to admit it or not, was filled with rainbow dreams that he and Danny would be friends for life. He had never clicked with anyone as quickly and as easily as he did with J. Daniel Atlas: it was as if they were meant to be friends, two guys taking in magic as their lovers, and sharing her every day with each other. They were sort of like an inexplicable threesome of sorts. He chuckled at the thought, one he thought crossed only little girls’ minds as they pinky-promised each other with friendship bracelets that would last a grand total of six days (minus of course all those bits about lovers and threesomes).

He tried texting him, too, once in a while. It felt unnatural, though – Danny’s direct replies to Jack’s very scripted questions – and the mobile conversations fizzled out as easily as flash paper. Eventually, Jack Wilder came to accept that Danny Atlas would only ever be that best friend that never was, except for a summer. The words “summer fling” crept into his mind, but he shook his head and chased the stray thought away. That was done. Time to get to work.

*

J. Daniel Atlas has had serious control issues from the time he was old enough to figure out he could move on his own. To say that he disliked spontaneity and the unexpected was an understatement that upset him to no end.

Jack Wilder was exactly that: an unexpected factor, a spontaneously combusting supernova in his carefully planned universe that was only just beginning to right itself after he and Henley fell apart (although, on hindsight, maybe he and Henley fell apart for an entirely different reason, and it took a certain smirk and dark hair to make him even consider it). He was just supposed to spend two months in New York, taking a summer class just because he was bored, and anyway, he probably wouldn’t survive a street show in New York. He never signed up to know everything there was to know about Jack Wilder, purely from an acquaintance’s standpoint, of course.

He knew Jack was set to graduate next spring, just like him, halfway across the continent. He knew Jack was single, and straight as a rod, never having dated anything else but girls (and a sizeable population from his school, no less than a third at least).

He had to admit to himself that Jack’s offhand comment about Merritt’s insinuation had hit him pretty hard. It was frustrating how easily and quickly he had taken to liking Jack Wilder, despite the fact that he had never actually had interest in boys. Luckily, Daniel was well-practiced at keeping his poker face locked down, and he was fairly certain he gave nothing away that day.

He did, however, decide to continue giving nothing away, and so on their very last day, he willed himself to say goodbye to Jack in the most usual of ways, like it was just another day, and they would see each other the next day. Chances are – or Daniel rather hoped – they never would have to again, anyway. At least that’s what he was trying to convince himself he did.

To no living soul would J. Daniel Atlas ever admit that he wished he knew the right things to say in response to all the friendly messages Jack had sent him since they had parted ways. When it came to social interactions, to friendships, to relationships – he simply had no idea what to do. It never even crossed his mind to share to Jack that – oh, he didn’t know – he lived in Los Angeles. 

He told himself the thought caused him no pain at all.


	3. November 2006: Thank You For The Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m thankful for our talents, and the joy it brings to people who witness them.  
> I’m thankful for the time we take and spend with each other to perfect it. We didn’t have to, but we did.  
> I’m thankful for the time given for us to be together, no matter how short a time it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover's Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 4) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

“Jack!”

He turned to face the high-pitched and excited voice that called out to him from across the hall, and he felt the corner of his lips turn upward into a smile. “What’s up, mon cherie?”

Alma Dray ran to him, her light blonde hair catching the warm rays of the afternoon sunshine. She really was beautiful, and more than once did he almost convince himself in the two short months that he had known her that he (and the rest of the male population in school) was probably in love with her. He always wondered why a gorgeous woman like her was still single and – apparently – showed no interest in mingling, not in the slightest.

“There’s someone I want you to meet,” she said with a mischievous smile on her face, and only then did he notice that she had someone in tow. Jack looked over at the other girl curiously, and the first thing he noticed was how red she was in the face. “This is Lula May. Lula, this is Jack Wilder.” Her eyebrows were practically wagging as she looked at her friend’s reaction.

“Hey, Lula,” Jack said warmly, extending a hand for her to shake. “It’s good to meet you.”

“Oh, uh, yes, Jack, hi!” Lula stuttered out, taking his hand and squeezing it a bit too tightly. “Don’t mind her, I just… I just saw you work magic with your hands the other day at the talent show and I thought it would be nice to meet you to see you do it firsthand.”

Alma ribbed her hard and Jack coughed out a laugh as she realized the implications of her words. “I mean, magic with your hands, with the cards, of course, not… oh, Jesus. I’m sorry. It’s just really nice to meet you, Jack.”

Jack eyed the lowerclassman carefully. She was very pretty, with shoulder-length brown hair and bright blue eyes that almost matched the shade of Danny’s, and he wondered again how he was… _No, Jack, you aren’t going there,_ he berates himself before turning his full attention back to her. He was no mentalist, certainly nowhere near the dust at Merritt’s feet, but he knew enough about girls to know that this one was quite taken with him.

He wished he could like her as much as she seemed to like him: it seemed that on top of it all, she was also into magic as much as he was. After all, where else would he find someone like that in this world?

*

“Daniel.”

Sometimes, Daniel would lose himself in his thoughts. It’s why he was so much into magic: it was like a tranquilizer to him, something that brought him back down to reality in a non-painful way. This time was one such instance, while with his parents for their customary Thanksgiving dinner together.

“Daniel,” a sharp voice cut him from his reverie.

“Mmm,” Daniel acknowledged, looking up from his plate into the stern eyes of his father.

“It’s your turn to tell us what you’re thankful for this year, son.”

“And don’t say family, Danny, because you know that’s a given!” his mother chirped, but her eyes were full of concern as she looked at him. One corner of his mouth twitched upward into a smile, wanting to reassure her that everything was more than okay, and she relaxed visibly. He took a deep breath and a few seconds to think about what he was to be thankful for this year.

_Jack Wilder, now a huge fan of yours._

Daniel cleared his throat as he rewound the sudden voice in his head. “I—I’m thankful for our talents, and the joy it brings to people who witness them.”

 _How about we grab a drink and you teach me how you did that trick?_ “I’m thankful for the time we take and spend with each other to perfect it. We didn’t have to, but we did.”

 _See you, man._ “I’m thankful for the time given for us to be together, no matter how short a time it is.”

His father smiled warmly at that, raising his wine glass. “Let’s drink to that, then, son. Cheers.”

Later on, when he was alone in his room, J. Daniel Atlas, the great showman, was nervous. He was thumbing his mobile for several minutes, fighting the perpetual internal battle of sending the one message he wanted to send to just one person. It was the reason why he was thankful this year, after all.

*

It was just another day for Merritt McKinney in New Orleans. He meant to surprise his parents by visiting them with the great news that he had made dean’s list yet again, but instead found a near-empty house and an answering machine that explained the McKinneys had gone on an extended holiday. Of course, Chase was not among his top 50 people he would gladly spend his time with, and so he made his way to one of the nearby coffee shops.

 _Happy Thanksgiving, Merritt,_ he thought to himself gloomily as he fell in line. He ordered a standard latte with extra whipped cream and was so lost in his thoughts that the minute he turned from the counter, he nearly crashed into a girl holding a similar cup in hand.

“Oh, crap, I am so sorry,” Merritt apologized immediately, caught off-guard.

The girl shook her head of red hair. “No, no, that was entirely me, I am so sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry…” Merritt glanced quickly at the cup she had in hand for a name. “Henley.”

She gaped slightly, shaking her head. “How did you…”

“It was on your cup,” Merritt said sheepishly.

Henley laughed loudly, and Merritt had to smile at that. “For a minute there I thought you were doing some kind of mentalism on me. That was just about all set for me to ring the alarm,” she said with good humor, telling Merritt that no, she wasn't going to "ring the alarm".

He shook his head. “That wasn’t mentalism, that was merely an observation.” He watched her carefully, weighing the effect of his next words. Her slightly hunched posture and tight-lipped smile told him this was a girl who probably didn’t mind some kind of reassurance, so he decided to go with it. “The second observation I had is that you… are beautiful.”

Her facial features softened, and there was an almost wistful look in her eyes when he said the word ‘beautiful’. “Thank you,” she said gently.

Merritt shrugged casually, not wanting to scare her off. “I’m just keeping myself honest here,” he said lightly. “So, Henley, on this lonely Thanksgiving, would a lovely woman such as yourself like to join me for coffee?”

*

Jack came home that night, full of energy and high spirits from that successful date with Lula. He liked the way she laughed every time he would pull a card out of her ear, out of her pocket, out of her… well, let’s just say it was a good third date. They had almost gone into the obligatory first kiss, but somehow, he found himself pulling back with a smile on his face, and he instead pecked her on her nose, much to Lula’s chagrin.

The phone buzzed just as he threw himself on his bed, and he immediately grabbed it to read the message he assumed was from Lula. His mouth dropped slightly when he did read the message: _Hi Jack. It’s Thanksgiving. I hope you’re having a good time celebrating. Thank you for the magic. – Danny_

Jack bit back a smile. Thank you for the magic, indeed.


	4. February 2007: Valentine’s Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack was looking at the blue-eyed boy next to him with what seemed like a neutral expression, but Merritt knew a lot better. The kid was an open book: in fact, one look from Daniel told both Jack and Merritt that Jack created no such illusion of neutrality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover's Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 4) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

There were so many things Jack didn’t quite like about Valentine’s Day this year: it fell on a Wednesday (no logical explanation for that), he had to go to some student orientation for Octa University (not something he was particularly excited about), and Lula had pulled yet another disappearing act for last weekend’s family brunch. Perhaps he didn’t need to justify his mood with more reasons other than the fact that he was pissed that Lula had failed to meet his family yet again. He wondered what harebrained excuse she would come up with this time.

“For a sleight of hand, you’re awfully easy to steal from at this point, Wilder,” came a voice from behind him, one he had not heard in months. “Don’t tell me you haven’t been practicing?”

Jack spun around to see a smirking Daniel, holding up his wallet mockingly. Gone was his thick patch of light brown hair, instead replaced with extremely short bristles – he must have shaved off his hair at least two months ago. He gave in to his impulse to rub the bald spot with his knuckles rowdily with a cry of joy, Daniel muttering “oh, okay” under his breath. “J. Daniel Atlas! What are you doing here?”

Daniel gestured emptily around them, the hall filling with students. “Student orientation, unless there’s another purpose for all this?”

Jack grinned. “Dude, it’s been months! It’s great to see you again!” He paused thoughtfully. “I just realized that I never got to ask where you actually lived! Do you live around here?” he asked with the full intention of commuting back with his friend.

The blue-eyed boy shifted in place, as though dreading to answer the question. “No, actually. I, uh, live in LA.”

“And you’re going to Octa for uni? Sweet!”

Daniel shrugged, keeping his smile tightly contained. He forgot how contagious Jack’s cheerfulness was. “Maybe. What about you?”

“Let’s see if their Card Throwing and Hypnosis electives would impress me, then we can talk,” Jack deadpanned. 

Daniel chuckled at that. “I wouldn’t hold out too much hope for that,” he said.

“Oh, I really wouldn’t be so quick to judge dear old Octa, Danny boy,” came a drawling voice from behind the two. “How nice to see The Showman and The Sleight together… again… for good… I hope.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Hello to you too, Merritt.”

“Yes, I see time has not encouraged you to cut the bullshit from your speech,” Daniel added.

Just then, the tall, lanky boy with a scowling face and old man glasses next to them stood up straighter and brought an invisible violin to his shoulder. He air-played an imaginary violin, a concerto only he could hear. The surrounding people tittered as they looked on, while some simply rolled their eyes and smiled.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have done that, Merritt’s got the code locked in place for a special few in here,” said a redhead who walked up from behind Merritt to stand next to him. “Hi, I’m—“

“Henley?” Daniel said incredulously.

The redhead’s eyes widened as she realized who she was talking to. “Danny?”

Jack sensed Daniel tense up as he observed the newcomer. She had warm and welcoming brown eyes, and her long red hair fell into a straight path until her curvy waist. She wore a pair of black rider’s gloves over her hands, one of which was now safely in Merritt’s own right hand. He saw Danny’s eyes flick very quickly to where their hands linked, and Jack cleared his throat uncomfortably, a strange feeling suddenly wedging inside his throat.

Merritt, however, had no such discretion in communicating his sudden discomfort. He looked between Daniel and Henley with narrowed eyes and was about to open his mouth to say something to Daniel, but Jack immediately placed himself between the two boys and held out a hand to Henley.

“It looks like we won’t be getting a proper introduction, so let me take the initiative,” Jack said easily, and Henley bit back a smile as Daniel suddenly looked at Jack’s back with an unreadable expression. “Jack Wilder, ma’am.”

“Henley Reeves, it’s really nice to meet you, Jack.”

“Likewise. It’s not every day I see a girl as pretty as you,” he said lightly, causing Henley to blush.

“See, that’s exactly what I tell her every day, Jack-o,” Merritt interjected, smiling indulgently at Henley for a second before turning back to Daniel. “And that’s why you two ceased to be a couple.”

The reactions were instant.

“Oh no, we were—we were…” Daniel stuttered.

“We were _never_ a couple,” Henley said firmly.

“We used to practice… stuff…”

“He used to…” Henley cleared her throat, making a slicing motion in the air, “… saw me in half.”

“Yes, she was a very good assistant,” Daniel said haughtily. “She just didn’t shed off the baby fat quickly enough.”

Jack flinched, and Merritt’s scowl deepened. Henley looked outraged. “You built the trapdoor like this small, Danny!” she cried out angrily, her hands showing exactly how small she perceived the trapdoor to be. “No one could fit through there, _no one_.”

“Rebecca fit,” Daniel said smoothly. “Rebecca fit for years.”

“I… I… do you know how hard it was to fit into those tight little costumes?”

“Uh, no, because I was the main attraction.”

“Hey you,” Merritt said in an uncharacteristically gentle voice, pulling a nearly tearful Henley closer to him. “You got this. What did I tell you? You deserve to be made to feel special, because…”

“Because I am,” Henley finished in a small voice, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. “Thank you, Mer.”

 _It was amazing how much Atlas gets to her after all these years,_ Merritt thought as he held her close. _She has some serious esteem issues because of this kid, and the worst part is he honestly doesn’t even seem to mean any harm._ He turned to glare and possibly ruin Atlas at the moment, but the sight in front of him made him stop immediately.

Jack was looking at the blue-eyed boy next to him with what seemed like a neutral expression, but Merritt knew a lot better. The kid was an open book: in fact, one look from Daniel told both Jack and Merritt that Jack created no such illusion of neutrality.

“Look, whatever it is you have to say, Wilder, save it,” Daniel snapped. “It’s probably nothing I haven’t heard before.”

Daniel’s tone would have scared off anyone else, but then again Jack was not exactly anyone else. The sleight simply shrugged and punched him in the arm. “Wilder? Sounds rich coming from you. Well, I can’t say you impressed anyone, Atlas, but who am I to tell you what was wrong about the situation, yeah?”

Daniel paused and frowned. “So… no scolding? No ‘you are such an asshole’ statements accompanied by you walking away?”

Jack laughed at that. “Danny, do I look like your girlfriend to you? I should hope not, man,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “Besides, you’re probably smart enough to figure that out on your own.”

“What do you—hey!”

Jack evaded the punch that Daniel sent his way, turning back to face Merritt and Henley. “Look, guys, so… on behalf of Danny here, who will probably never own up to this moment, can we all just pretend that last five minutes of our lives never happened?”

Daniel sniffed, but otherwise made no opposing comment.

“Well, no words from the great J. Daniel Atlas is like an apology and declaration of undying love in one, so I’ll take it,” Henley said, rolling her eyes.

Daniel, on his part, extended a hand to Henley, which she took with a smile. He reached out to extend the same hand to Merritt, who seemed to move to take it but – at the last second – flipped him off. “You watch your move when you show your face in this school, Atlas,” Merritt said.

“Well, isn’t that nice!” Jack said with forced cheer just as Daniel opened his mouth to snap back a retort. “Look, let’s go find seats before anyone else wants to kill someone else.”

“So, you and Henley?” Jack said to Daniel much later, when they had parted ways with Merritt and Henley.

“I’m sorry, can you be more precise? That question can be taken in so many different ways. ‘So, you and Henley killed a man’, ‘so, you and Henley used to sing in an opera house, ‘so, you and Henley were in the army together’, ‘so, you and—‘”

“Okay, I get it,” Jack cut in hastily. “So, you and Henley were… together? As in a couple? When did that happen?”

Daniel fought against the urge to close his eyes and massage his nose bridge. This is definitely not the kind of conversation he wanted to have with Jack Wilder, especially since said conversation was about a messy history with his ex-assistant, and most especially not after months of negligible contact with said friend. But now was not the time to alienate Jack, not when he at least was in a ‘talking mood’, so he sucked it up and answered the question.

“Henley was right, we were never a couple,” Daniel admitted. “We met when we were fourteen and we wanted to get into the whole magic scene. To be honest, I know she liked me, and I tried to like her back, and I think I did a little bit, but not… you know, it wasn’t enough.” _Please don’t ask why, please don’t ask why, please don’t ask why._

Jack was tempted to ask why, but something in Daniel’s carefully stoic face told him not to push the conversation about Henley further. So instead, he brought out a deck of cards and started shuffling idly, piquing Daniel’s interest. He had to hide a smirk at the impressed look fighting to show up on Daniel’s face as he showed off his new shuffle. “Well, Danny, that’s in the past, so that’s fine. I’m sure you’re living the life with your current someone.”

Daniel shook his head, still mesmerized by Jack’s nimble hands tossing one card after the other. “I don’t have anyone.”

“Oh, okay,” Jack said, trying to contain his surprise. “That’s… that’s cool, I guess. It’d be good to remember what it was like being single.”

Daniel looked up very suddenly at Jack’s last sentence. “You, uh, you have a girlfriend now?”

Jack snorted. “Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. She’s… how do you put it… flighty. She’s got this whole ‘now you see me, now you don’t’ kind of thing going on. I think you’d like her, though.”

_I really don’t think I would._

“Her name’s Lula, and she’s quite the showman herself. She specializes in self-decapitation.”

_What kind of a name is that? Self-decapitation? Pity she prefers to do it herself._

But as usual, Daniel didn’t know what to say to that (other than the evil side comments he had in his head), and Jack seemed to be okay with it. The next few hours were spent like no months of silence had come between them, both of them once more taking up magic in their corner table in the café next to their future college (let’s face it, no one needed a fortune teller for that). Small talk about school and their courses filled the comfortable air here and there, but on the whole, it was all about the craft they both enjoyed and loved with a passion. Needless to say, Jack didn’t need to see any of the electives, existent or otherwise, to decide where he wanted to go in a couple of months.

When the time came for them to part ways much later, Jack felt something heavy sink inside him when Daniel stood up and cleared his throat, like how he always would right before he would say goodbye, like nothing happened. He made to stand and extend a hand to friend, but was instead caught in an awkward one-handed hug.

“See you soon, Jack?” The statement came out more as a question, a little tentative, a lot hopeful, or so it seemed to Jack at the moment.

He nodded, a smile lighting up his face. “You bet, Danny.”


	5. June 2007: Best Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t even supposed to be a show stopper. It’s just that there was something about the way Jack would lose himself in one card trick after the other, a gentle smile on his face, that told Lula he was very much in another world with someone else. Someone who definitely was not her, and she wasn’t even sure if said someone even knew of Jack’s predicament.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover's Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 4) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

Lula May was a pretty smart girl, if she did say so herself. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have figured out from the very start of their relationship that Jack Wilder was a man quite obviously taken with someone else. She liked to think she knew these things because – as a self-decapitator – she knew if there were missing parts, even if she didn’t quite know where they were.

But then again, she realized that even a respectable amount of intelligence would probably dictate its own limits once the matters of the heart would speak out. Because Lula May be damned, she wanted to be with Jack Wilder so much, it didn’t even matter what she knew.

She was hopeful it would work, of course – she could never forget the indescribable feeling of joy when Jack finally asked her out with the disarming grin that made her pulse quicken a little bit every time she saw it. He liked her, and she definitely liked him right back. How could this not work?

Talk about tempting fate.

It’s not that he did anything to bring the eventual end of their relationship – hell, she didn’t even think he knew what a sticky situation he was in with his emotions. When they were together (and – according to some reliable sources of hers, even when they weren’t), he did not show the slightest bit of attention to anyone else but her, and neither did he act differently around anyone in school.

But Lula knew these things, and she would maintain that this was precisely the reason why she never took it further, why any mention of true closeness always drove her into the opposite direction. It’s the reason why, after just three short months of dating, she called it off last March: she knew that she was hurting Jack every time she pushed him away, and it hurt her knowing that he was completely clueless as to just how unavailable he was to the whole world.

It wasn’t even supposed to be a show stopper. It’s just that there was something about the way Jack would lose himself in one card trick after the other, a gentle smile on his face, that told Lula he was very much in another world with someone else. Someone who definitely was not her, and she wasn’t even sure if said someone even knew of Jack’s predicament.

Not surprisingly, the breakup had soured their friendship for only a few short weeks, but it was the best decision Lula ever made: she and Jack were never better, and for the first time in her life, she had someone she could call her best friend. Her best friend who, unfortunately, would be going to college in just three months, leaving her behind until further notice, and dragging her with him to enrolment to boot.

“You know I have a lot more important things to do than to follow you around, don’t you, Jack?” Lula complained, stomping her feet as they walked side-by-side.

“Sure you do,” Jack said passively, barely looking up from his phone. “I should be so honored.”

“Yes, yes, you do,” Lula agreed, frowning and trying to peer at his phone. “Whose text are you waiting for, anyway?”

“Huh?” he said distractedly, hastily pocketing his phone. “I was just checking on that friend I wanted you to meet, you would really like—hey, where the hell is my—“

“Your wallet?” she said sweetly, holding it up and carefully putting it back in his pocket. “What about your… belt?” Jack was shaking his head, biting back a smile as she held it up for the world to see. “And the packets of ketchup from McDonald’s, I don’t know why you got those.”

“You little thief,” Jack chuckled, playfully pulling her closer to him by the waist.

Lula heard a soft “oh” from behind her, and she turned around to face the speaker. It was a boy with a buzz cut, now looking anywhere but at them, and she imagined what he must be seeing, with her holding Jack’s belt and Jack holding… well, her. She shook her head frantically, “Oh, no, no, it’s not like that, we… he and I are just…”

“Danny!” Jack said happily, letting go of Lula and giving the boy a one-armed embrace. The boy reciprocated very carefully, and was now looking at Lula with bright blue eyes that betrayed nothing, but still made Lula feel quite exposed. “Hey man, it’s great to see you.” He turned to Lula with a bright smile. “Lula May, this is J. Daniel Atlas. Danny, this is Lula May.”

“So, you’re the legendary J. Daniel Atlas!” Lula gushed excitedly, holding out her hand. “Jack told me a lot about you, it’s amazing how he talks about your magic. I mean, I haven’t even seen it for myself, and already I feel like I’m such a fan!”

The boy called J. Daniel Atlas gave her a tight-lipped smile, grasping her hand firmly but quickly. “From a true fan, it’s so nice to meet you,” he said. Lula had to wonder if he meant it or not. Daniel put his hands in his pockets, turning to Jack. “So, am I intruding?”

Jack frowned. “How? You just got here.”

Daniel pursed his lips. “I mean, will you two be on your date long?” A strange feeling came over Lula with the last statement, something she could not quite put her finger on.

Jack laughed, shaking his head, and answered for the both of them. “Aww, shucks! I don’t think I told you, Danny – Lula and I broke up last March,” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “She’s here because she’s the responsible best friend who wants nothing more than to see her best friend off to college enrollment.”

A look of bewilderment and confusion crossed Daniel’s face, which dissolved back into a neutral mask quickly, but not quickly enough for Lula’s eyes to miss. Daniel chuckled awkwardly. “Isn’t that… well, how do you two deal with that?”

Lula shrugged, observing Jack’s friend while answering. “It’s not really a big deal, we just… happen to like each other so much that it’s not even something we need to think about.”

“Is it? Well, good for you,” Daniel said in clipped tones. “That can’t have been easy.”

Jack bit his lip in the way that made Lula almost regret breaking up with him as he cupped her cheek seductively. “Nah, Lula made it all easy, didn’t you?”

“Stop it, Jack-o, I’m going to swoon if you don’t,” she deadpanned as she kicked him lightly in the shin.

Jack laughed and turned to face Daniel. “Hey, Dan, should we grab a bite? I’m starving.”

“So am I, sweet cakes, good to have you back here,” came a familiar drawling voice. “Hello, Jack-o, Asswipe, and… lovely woman.”

“Oh, behave, Merritt,” Henley said in a stern voice, appearing behind Jack and hugging him around his shoulders. “Hey, Jack, Danny, and…”

“Lula May,” Lula said with a huge smile as she shook Henley’s gloved hand.

“Henley Reeves,” the redhead smiled right back. “Lula, this is—“

“Merritt McKinney, a real pleasure to meet you, sweetheart,” the older boy said politely.

“Oh, you’re the Merritt McKinney! Jack told me you’re something of a psychological prodigy!” Lula gushed as she shook the hand of Merritt eagerly.

“I actually said ‘mental mentalist’, but close enough,” Jack volunteered.

Lula glared at Jack for a split second before Merritt held her gaze again. Daniel leaned forward discreetly, knowing that he was about to see Merritt McKinney in action (though he would never admit that he’s even the slightest bit impressed, oh no, no, no, no, no).

Merritt prided himself on being exceedingly good at reading people, and he was: taking in their little tics and unravelling all of their life’s secrets before them was just another natural part of him, something he did as easily as he breathed. But what he saw in the pretty brunette was something he thought he ought to keep mum about, at least for now.

Everything about her screamed ‘in love, and with the wrong person’ – it was clear how she mirrored Jack’s movements, how she would nervously turn her eyes on him once in a while, as though making sure he was there, how the lovely smile hid a certain loneliness for the consolation prize she had to settle for.

Just how small was the world, Merritt wondered, for him to encounter two different individuals who had unknowingly volunteered to offer their hearts to one Jack Wilder?

Her blue eyes betrayed a little bit of fear for her secret, and he saw her shoulders tense ever so slightly as she took one small step closer to Jack, who was eagerly awaiting Merritt’s read on her. The idiot kid who had absolutely no idea just how much he had broken the heart of this poor girl, reduced to feeding off the crumbs of his affections as his best friend.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Atlas, leaning forward slightly, barely containing the anticipation for a big reveal from Merritt on the girl – to use it against her, or to simply know the competition, Merritt didn’t want to know (though he knew Atlas well enough to know that the kid never had harmful intentions for anyone, not really). He decided not to give anyone the satisfaction of knowing-slash-not-knowing.

Oh, boy. This never ended well for anybody.

“Sorry, honey, I don’t try to read beautiful girls like you… not on the first meeting, at least,” Merritt said easily, winking at Lula, who relaxed considerably. Daniel barely masked his disappointment, and Jack chuckled as he put an arm around Lula.

“What was that?” Henley asked quietly. “What do you know?”

He shrugged. “What can I say? Magnanimity is my strongest suit.”

“You didn’t answer the question.”

He shook his head. “Never meant to, my love.”

Talk turned to getting decent class schedules, and enthusiastic responses each time someone’s schedule matched someone else’s, but Lula was barely paying attention. She was looking at J. Daniel Atlas every time he wasn’t stealing glances at her, or Jack, or both of them at the same time. He certainly was something, that guy, but it was when the corners of Daniel’s lips turned up slightly in response to a joke Jack just cracked did the realization hit her.

_Someone._


	6. September 2007: Higher Education

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack was never one to dwell on his emotions, or the “inner workings of the heart” as his sister liked to call them. He found himself distractions every time he came close to tapping into said workings: mostly learning new magic tricks and dating new people. Unfortunately, his current inner working – one Danny Atlas with his buzz cut and impossibly blue eyes – was much too ingrained in magic for him to actually get his mind off said magician, and so here he was, stuck with the second distraction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover's Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 4) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

The first few weeks in Octa University were remarkably uneventful, but if any of the four noticed that they naturally made the effort to band together, none of them ever said anything. Their schedules generally didn’t match – Henley was in a separate block from Daniel and Jack, and Merritt was two years ahead of them – but they still made it work. To his surprise, Daniel found that he quite liked having friends other than Jack – although, he knew that he probably would not have been able to keep Merritt and Henley around for very long had it not been for the said sleight, so that could be a generous overestimation of his social skills.

But it wasn’t to say that he was sick of spending time with Jack, what with sharing the same apartment on campus with him and having most classes together – in fact, the biggest surprise to Daniel was how much it didn’t bother him how integral Jack Wilder had come to be to his world. if he were to be completely honest with himself, he really wouldn’t have it any other way.

When he was walking back to the apartment one Friday evening, eagerly looking forward to the weekly ritual of watching throwback caper films with Jack until the break of dawn, J. Daniel Atlas did not know what was coming to him.

“Hey, Danny,” Jack greeted him cheerfully, combing his hair in front of the mirror.

Danny shut the door behind him and looked at his friend’s outfit. “Where are you headed?”

Jack looked at his friend’s reflection in the mirror, missing the fleetingly stormy look on the showman’s face. “I’m going to catch a movie with – get this – Jasmine Tressler!”

“Who?” Danny said stiffly.

“Jasmine Tressler, man, the daughter of the school’s top benefactor!”

“Okay…?” Danny asked in a flat voice, putting his bag on top of the counter table. “And the relationship between her being the daughter of some rich guy and you dating her would be… you getting some money out of it?”

Jack’s insides went stone cold at Danny’s words, and he knew that Danny knew it too. His friend’s blue eyes widened and he shook his head. “No, Jack, that’s not—“

“It’s cool,” Jack said in a clipped tone, putting down the comb and reaching for the leather jacket hanging neatly across the back of his chair.

In two long strides, Danny was right in front of Jack, holding him by the wrists. “Jack, I…” He gulped. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

It was as much as a frantic and tearful apology as anyone could ever get from the mighty J. Daniel Atlas, and he knew it. Jack smiled sadly and nodded. “I know. But it doesn’t suck any less.”

“Jack—“

“Danny, please,” Jack cut in, his mind clouding at having Danny so close to him. God damn it, he needed this date with Jasmine Tressler, he needed to get his mind off things, anything to keep him from thinking about this…! “I have to go.”

Danny let his wrists go, and Jack immediately grabbed the leather jacket from his seat and walked quickly to the door. He hesitated for a split second before turning to face his friend, who was watching him carefully. Jack forced a smile at Danny. “We’re good, man,” he said as he shut the door behind him.

Jack was never one to dwell on his emotions, or the “inner workings of the heart” as his sister liked to call them. He found himself distractions every time he came close to tapping into said workings: mostly learning new magic tricks and dating new people. Unfortunately, his current inner working – one Danny Atlas with his buzz cut and impossibly blue eyes – was much too ingrained in magic for him to actually get his mind off said magician, and so here he was, stuck with the second distraction.

He wasn’t sure when it happened, and to be honest, he didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t have a problem with possibly liking a man (though it was a first for him, and he had to admit, it was pretty scary), but Jack did have a problem with possibly liking Danny. Danny was his best friend – his perfectly uninterested “romance isn’t my thing” best friend –there was no way he was losing Danny on account of a stupid infatuation that wouldn’t go away at the moment.

Time to get his game on.

“What’s got you wound up, hon?” came a sultry voice next to him.

Daniel looked over to his right, his vision slightly cloudy – he didn’t drink much, and three shots of tequila was something his body was completely unused to. He willed himself to focus on the girl next to him: she was pretty enough, a brunette with shoulder-length hair and a coffee-colored complexion, maybe good enough for him to like too much as well, and he thought -- damn it, would the same trick work twice?

He shook his head as he fished out his deck of cards from his pocket. “Let’s talk about something else,” he whispered right back, keeping his eyes on her as he started shuffling – one of the many shuffles Jack taught him to do with his eyes closed. He could see Jack’s eyes flash, obviously quite impressed, and he could feel traces of sobriety creeping back on him.

With the steadiest hands, he held up the full deck of cards. “I’m going to flip through this deck. Keep in mind what card catches your eye – no, not this one, that’s too obvious.” He points to whatever card is at the bottom of the deck, and Jack – no, the brunette – chuckles. “Ready?”

She nodded, waiting to be impressed. He flipped through the deck, and he takes great care to spend more time flipping through the middle part of the deck, where he stowed the duplicate seven of diamonds. She frowned slightly, as Daniel expected, so he prompted, “One more time?”

She nods again, and this time seems to be able to focus more clearly on whatever card she saw. He closes the deck and shuffles the cards below, locking eyes with the girl as he deftly removes the carefully marked duplicate cards and shooting one in her open purse. “Do you have one in mind?” he asks her.

“Yes,” she confirmed.

Daniel spreads out the cards to face Jack – the girl. “Is your card here?”

She scans the deck for the seven of diamonds and obviously does not find it. “No.”

“That’s because you’re looking too closely,” he berates with a smile as he watches the frown on the girl's face -- he remembered that frown, it was so endearing, like Jack was thinking how it could have possibly slipped him -- deepen. “I always say that the closer you look, the less you’ll see. Check your purse.”

If someone had told Daniel a little earlier in life that cute bar girls would respond so well to card tricks, perhaps he could have started a long time ago and spared himself from the inconvenience he was going through right now. Perhaps it could have even been a very real thing with (oh, how convenient) Jackie, who he had burst into their apartment with, half-naked and panting.

“Jack, Jack—“ Daniel said the name like a vigil, exciting her even more.

“I’m your biggest fan,” Jackie growled, tearing away at his shirt.

“I can see that, from the way you’re attacking my face right now,” Daniel said nonsensically, earning a laugh from her as she sends him backward onto the couch, pushing him down and straddling him.

He tries to sit up, eager to… hell, he didn’t know what he wanted to do with her, but she held him down and put a finger to his lips. He widened his eyes questioningly. “Wait, how did you do that?”

He shrugged. “A magician never reveals his secrets, love.”

She rolls her eyes. “Of course. But is it always—“

“The seven of diamonds?” Daniel supplied, and she nodded eagerly. He held her by the waist and sat up slightly. “I can do that trick fifty-two different ways.”

Her eyebrows, too thin for his liking, wagged seductively. “Can you do fifty-two different tricks on me?”

He gave her a once over and smiled up at her mischievously. “Let’s see what I can do.”

Daniel was close, so close to actually forgetting about what bothered him, when a shiny object in his shoe caught his eyes. How in God’s name did it get there?

Needless to say, his biggest fan landed on the floor with a heavy thud and slammed her way out of their apartment in no time at all, but Daniel no longer cared. The only thing he did care about was the card now in his hand, with nothing but a date, a time, a place, and an eye staring at him from the back of The Lovers.

Danny was still on the couch, turning the card over repeatedly and rewinding the entire night in his head, when Jack burst into their apartment door excitedly. “Oh boy, you got one, too!” he crowed as he jumped on the couch next to Danny, wincing very slightly as he peered over Danny’s shoulder. “I wish they could have given me something friendlier like yours, though. I mean, of all the cards in the freaking deck.”

Danny spared Jack’s Death card a cool look before returning to his own card. “Yeah, cool. How’d you get one, though, if you were on a date with Jasmine Tressler?”

Jack shook his head, shifting slightly on the couch, letting out a big laugh. “I never made it in time, but man, you will not believe the night I had! I was on my way to the meeting place but I saw what I thought was this jerk junior taking stuff from some girl who was putting up a huge fight about it. Well, anyway, I nicked back the stuff he stole and gave it back to the girl, and it turns out I just saved the entire database of student information from Owen Case!”

Danny’s head shot up with real interest at that. “The brilliant IT kickout?”

Jack nodded eagerly, shifting again. “Turns out he’s been lurking and blackmailing the poor girl from registrar to give him the stuff for weeks. She’s a mess, I feel horrible for her, but I think the directors can help her.” He points to the card. “Anyway, after I turned over the girl and the files to security, I felt this card in my pocket! And speaking of what’s in my pocket, what is this…”

Jack reached for something as he shifted in his seat, and he saw Danny pale slightly as he pulled a tube of lipstick and a very fancy-looking brush that he was fairly certain neither of them could own.

To say that it quickly turned awkward was an understatement. Danny was like a fish on land, mouth opening and closing, but with no sound coming out, while Jack was desperately racking his brains for the right thing to say at the moment. With no confidence in any of his options, he decided to go with, “Had some fun?” he said lightly, forcing a smile on his face.

“I… uh…” Danny stammered, for once at a loss for words.

Jack’s heart was hammering wildly, but there was simultaneously an awful sensation that he made him wish at that moment that he didn’t have a heart. “Aww, Danny boy, I know it’s not any of my business, but as your favorite roommate, the least I could do is meet the girl so I can give her proper warning!” he laughed loudly, slapping Danny lightly on the shoulder.

Danny let out a soft scoff, shaking his head as he took the tube of lipstick and brush. “You think Henley will like this?”

“Dude, I don’t think you should go around giving your girl’s stuff to another girl. That’s pretty weird,” he responded, shaking his head with a smile. “Besides, won’t you see her again? You need to do a bit of follow-through if you—”

The showman shook his head, looking Jack straight in the eye. “No. Absolutely not.” Jack gulped as he stared back into the serious blue eyes of his best friend. “I’ve got what I need.”


	7. October 2007: Ghost of a Good Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel opened his mouth to respond scathingly to Henley’s words, but was cut off by Jack putting his hands on both his shoulders. Merritt’s eyebrow raised slightly, and Henley had to fight herself from staring too much.
> 
> “Danny, please? Let’s just… go out and have fun tonight.”
> 
> Damn Jack Wilder and everything the idiot stood for in life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES: Not my usual starting point, but a big HELLO to you guys! We’re on Chapter 7, and I promise you, our boys and the plot line will be going somewhere from this chapter forward. Thanks for those who put up with the first six chapters – looking back, I think I definitely could have gone into more detail with some items, but hey, we all move forward here, don’t we?
> 
> It’s still tough for me to try to develop the promised side story of Hermit+Priestess here, so if any of you have any ideas on how Merritt and Henley’s story should go, I’m all ears (in fact, if you even think I shouldn’t be writing Hermit+Priestess, that’s fine, feel free to tell me). But for now, all my humble efforts are focused on Lover’s Death, and the roles Merritt and Henley will be playing will be mostly geared to getting said pairing together. <3
> 
> Still, I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:  
> 1) Special note for Chapter 7: I do not own “My Own Summer (Shove It)” by Deftones. This masterpiece is theirs entirely, and I simply used the song for what I think is one of the more crucial moments in the story so far. I rarely use songs within the stories, but this song was too good that I have to make an exception.
> 
> 2) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 3) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 4) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 5) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

Henley was often sorely underestimated. She supposed, though, she was pretty used to it by now: in fact, underestimation with her particular hobby was an advantage. People would see a pretty dimpled smile, red hair, and innocent brown eyes when they look at her, all spelling “damsel in distress”. She always believed that the art of escapism lay in the perception of how difficult a situation was, before finally wowing the crowd that already concluded the hopelessness of the said situation and breaking out of it.

In their little group of tarot cards (as Merritt liked to say with sarcasm), it was no question that they each had their own specialties: Merritt, of course, with his mentalism; Jack with his sleight of hand; Danny with his overall showmanship and leadership. She owned them at escapism, of course, but now she knew she was being underestimated once more, and not for any skill that she lacked.

Two idiots – she liked to hide them under the aliases “Jack” and “Daniel” – were going around with their heads up their asses whenever they were around each other, and funnily enough, she wondered how they thought it fitting to watch their tics only in front of Merritt, and never in front of her. They weren’t screaming signs: in fact, they were very small differences an untrained eye would not be able to catch – a quick squeeze on the shoulders, “accidental” bumps that lead to the inevitable grasping of elbows, the “looking-when-he-isn’t-looking-and-looking-away-when-his-head-moves” routine… she was still a girl, after all.

Actually, scratch that – she still had her vision intact, after all. Only a blind bat would miss everything she saw.

She and Merritt were waiting for Jack and Daniel to arrive to discuss the blueprints they found in the meeting place on the back of their cards from almost three weeks ago. Unable to contain herself, she decided to just ask Merritt the question that was on the back of her mind.

“You knew from the start, didn’t you?” she asked Merritt, whose head was on her lap as he read a book.

He shrugged. “You’ll have to be more specific, love.”

She rolled her eyes. “About Jack and Daniel.”

“You think there’s something going on between them?” he asked in a bored voice as he flipped the page.

“Isn’t there?”

He smirked. “They both wish.”

Henley gaped. “Are you saying—“

“No, Hen, they aren’t ‘hooking up’. Both of them have their heads up their asses trying to keep their feelings from each other, and from me when we’re all together,” Merritt explained patiently.

“Why aren’t they keeping it from me, then? Did they really think I wouldn’t see it?” Henley said, slightly offended.

Merritt shook his head, putting his book down and looking up at her. “Look at it this way, Hen: you’re a safe zone for them, probably the only one they have. They think they can’t slip up in front of me, because they think they won’t hear the end of it once they do. Everyone else has a different orientation on what Jack and Daniel are – Jack has a new date, what, every week? And Daniel’s just too Daniel to get anyone close to him. You, though – you never had expectations of what they should and shouldn’t be. So you could consider yourself the sole witness to everything they want to be at this point.”

“Hmm. I never thought of it that way,” Henley said pensively.

“That’s because you’re too hard on yourself, love,” Merritt said with a yawn before his eyes light up mischievously. “You really should lighten up, let me take care of your—“

“Children coming in, we do not want to hear or see Mommy kissing Santa Claus!” Jack said loudly as he burst through the door.

Daniel followed suit with a snicker on his face. “If Santa Claus wasn’t completely evil, at least.”

Merritt’s eyebrows raised slightly, smirking. “At least Santa’s getting some…thing,” he concluded as Henley slapped him on the chest.

The overwhelming difficulty of the tasks set for them was unbelievable, and they needed all the time they could get to make sure they worked as a “single-celled organism”, as the blueprints had put it. Practice, practice, practice – that was all they were doing together, and that’s all they would be doing in the near future together. The thought slightly depressed Henley, and judging by the way the boys’ eyes were glazing over and their occasional heavy face rubs during their daily meet-ups after school, she saw that it was getting to them, too. It’s only been a few weeks, and they had barely two more months to get this right, but she decided she was doing something about this now.

Screw the plan… for now.

Henley stood in front of their meeting place’s door on Halloween, waiting for the three boys. When they arrived almost together, and with quizzical looks on their faces, she clapped her gloved hands together. “Boys, we are going out tonight,” she announced.

Their reactions varied: Merritt continued looking at her questioningly; Jack’s eyes lit up as he said, “We are?”; Daniel’s eyes darkened as he said, “No, we’re not. The Eye—“

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, Daniel, The Eye told us to practice our tricks every time we’re together, which is why I signed us up to be the opening act for Walter Mabry’s Halloween party. We can practice everything we usually do there, and we get a little money out of it to boot. I don’t think The Eye will fault us for needing a bit of date money,” she explained pointedly, casting a brief glance at Jack.

Merritt’s eyes twinkled, and once more Henley marveled at how quickly he seemed to get her train of thought. “Especially Jackie boy here, burning through one date after another! Who’s the floozie you’re dating this week again?” he asked casually as he put an arm around Jack’s shoulders.

Henley stole a glance at Daniel, who looked about ready to kill Merritt.

“Aww, no,” Jack mumbled, inching away from Merritt’s arm. “I’m not dating anyone.” He was unbelievably uncomfortable, looking anywhere else but at any of them.

“Regardless, this is extremely inconsiderate of you,” Daniel said haughtily, “You should have asked us first, Henley. This isn’t part of the plan.”

“I know, Danny, but just once, can we please screw the plan, even for just a bit?” Henley implored. “Everyone’s on edge, I can see that, and we’re essentially asked to pull off the near-impossible after Christmas. We should just have some fun while we still can.”

Daniel opened his mouth to respond scathingly to Henley’s words, but was cut off by Jack putting his hands on both his shoulders. Merritt’s eyebrow raised slightly, and Henley had to fight herself from staring too much.

“Danny, please? Let’s just… go out and have fun tonight.”

_Damn Jack Wilder and everything the idiot stood for in life._

Because “fun” turned out to be quite productive for them. “The Four Horsemen”, Merritt had introduced themselves on a whim, and the name stuck. Their mini-show went without a hitch, and they were two hundred dollars richer, several notches more popular, and booked for two more functions at the end of it. They were the center of attention, even if they were the only ones in the room not properly dressed in costumes, and Daniel knew in this moment just how much he lived for the adoration, for the amazement, for the awe.

He was losing track of time, but he found that he didn’t mind. The drinks just kept finding their way to his hands and – eventually – his mouth, and he felt himself go lighter and lighter with every shot he took. As the minutes passed, the high of their successful little show was parked to the side to make room for a loud bass line and a chilling rhythm that made him… well, extremely turned on.

Henley and Merritt were writhing a few feet next to him, as were quite a few other couples. He felt a small pang seeing his two friends: though he never articulated it, Daniel was truly happy that Henley found Merritt, a guy who loved her to the stars and back, but somehow, seeing them made him—

“Why so sad, man?” came a familiar drawl near the lobe of his left ear, sending more chills throughout his entire body. “Come on, lighten up!”

“Jesus, Jack,” Daniel choked out.

“Sorry,” Jack laughed, not sounding sorry at all. “I was just looking for—oomph!” He grunted as a moving force crashed into him, causing him to grab Daniel by the shoulders and half-dipping both of them towards the floor, with Daniel holding him by the back of his head and waist. A distant “sorry!” could be heard, but it no longer registered with either of them. It was dark, much too dark for Daniel to see what was in Jack’s eyes, but he could have sworn he saw Jack gulp nervously as they held each other.

They stayed in that position for only a split second before Jack scrambled to stand up. He was thankful the loud music could cover up his stammered apologies, and the lighting would (he hoped to God it would) mask his blush. He didn’t even bother to look at Danny’s face – he just knew he would give too much away, so he tried to move to the edge of the crowd. Unfortunately, the close encounter with Danny didn’t at all help his earlier problem: he could barely breathe, and he was now desperately hard.

A new song started, slower and more sensual, but with hypnotic guitar licks and that delicious rhythm that was sending everyone in a craze. Jack couldn’t get away – in fact, the more he moved, the more the crowds closed in on him, and his senses were on maximum sensitivity, and he could smell him so close to him…

“You just told me to relax and lighten up, Jack,” Danny’s gentle voice whispered right into his ear. Jack suppressed a shudder: Danny’s lips were cool, in contrast to the heat of his skin, and Jack caught the faint smell of alcohol mixed with the woodsy aftershave Danny liked to use. The sensation was absolutely addicting, and it didn’t help that the tips of Danny’s fingers were grazing both his forearms, now dripping with sweat. “You don’t seem to be taking your own advice.”

Something kept Jack firmly in place, and suddenly, the lines between want and need were completely blurred. Danny’s touch was shy, hesitant, tentative, as it made its way to find his fingers and intertwine them with his. “I don’t know, man, maybe I need some help to relax,” Jack croaked as he chanced a glance at their intertwined fingers.

Danny’s lips tickled the left side of his neck as he whispered, “Let’s see what I can do.”

**_Hey you, big star, tell me when it’s over  
Hey you, big mood, guide me to shelter_ **

He felt Danny press up against his back just as someone shoved their way past Danny, sending their bodies completely together with a slight grind. Both of them froze at that minute as Jack became completely aware just how hard Danny was against him. But he couldn’t possibly want Jack, there was nothing that he—

_Don’t overthink this, Wilder,_ he berated himself. _Figure it out later and just screw it._

Danny’s grip on him was slacking, as though the revelation made him lose confidence, but Jack Wilder be damned if he would let J. Daniel Atlas go tonight.

Emboldened, he made a grab for Danny’s waist and spun himself around, the tips of their nose practically touching. He pressed himself even closer than he already was for Danny to feel him through his jeans, and Danny’s eyes widened.

He was thankful that Danny was only slightly taller than he was, because he was able to look at the showman straight in the eye, full of liquid courage and overpowering desire.

“You aren’t going anywhere, Atlas,” Jack said in a deep rumbling voice that was entirely not his own.

**_‘Cause I’m through when the two hits the six  
And it’s summer_ **

Daniel was hypnotized. He normally hated crowds, but with every wave of movement that sent him and Jack careening together, he was never more thankful for people smelling of alcohol, lust, and the night.

He and Jack didn’t even need to move: the beating of his heart matched the threatening pounding of the music, and he couldn’t look away from Jack’s dark eyes.

Not that he wanted to, not now, when they were filled with something he wished he would see but knew he never would: desire.

And Christ, here they both were, still circling at each other in increasing tempo, in the middle of an extremely drunk dance floor, holding each other like they were each other’s lifeline.

Another wave crashed into them, and Jack’s hips knocked hard against Daniel. Daniel felt his stomach swoop as though he had missed several steps going down, or he was falling from a dream at the top of a tower. The loss of control was something he embraced entirely, and he thoughtlessly buried his head on the side of Jack’s neck, nibbling and licking lightly, both pleased and displeased to hear Jack moan obscenely, his throat vibrating pitifully.

**_Cloud, come (shove it, shove it, shove it)  
Shove (shove it, shove it, shove it)_ **

Nothing but the rhythm was moving them together. Jack gasped as he felt Danny’s lips on his neck, and frustrated that there was nothing else to hold on to, he crept his free hand underneath Danny’s shirt and felt his way up, feeling his best friend shiver under his touch.

**_The sun (shove it, shove it, shove it)  
Aside (shove it aside)_ **

Jack Wilder was holding him, touching him, caressing him like he was the most precious thing in the world. Lord God, may someone smite J. Daniel Atlas where he stood now, because he was sure nothing in the world felt better than Jack’s hand all over his body – his chest, his abdomen, his—

“Oh, God,” Daniel choked out.

**_I think god is moving its tongue_ **

Jack couldn’t keep the grin off his drawl. “Too much for you, Danny?”, only for him to gasp as Danny’s hips snapped up to silence him.

**_There’s no crowd in the streets_ **

Danny put his hand at the back of Jack’s head, drawing him closer. “Never with you,” he said simply.

**_And no sun in my own summer_ **

Jack keened as they started moving against each other, oblivious to the entire world, existing only entirely for each other at that moment. All those failed dates, all those wasted nights, now it all made sense… it’s been so long, and it took him all those months to realize it, and it’s been far too long since he’s been so close, he was going to come…

**_The shade is a tool, a device, a savior_ **

The crotch of Daniel’s jeans, already uncomfortably tight when he first started drinking that night (the fact that he was drinking with Jack Wilder by his side didn’t matter, no it didn’t), was already straining, badly needing, wanting, to fuse with Jack, and never let him go.

He was gasping into Jack’s shoulder, and he felt his friend shuddering violently, mirroring his own suffering.

**_See, I try and look up to the sky_ **

Jack was reaching the breaking point, looking to the high heavens and fighting desperately to retain control before he bit into Danny’s neck, making his best friend cry out, his hand slipping far down to brush against Jack’s groin…

That did it for both of them.

**_But my eyes burn_ **

Their minds were blissfully blank for a few seconds as they panted against each other. No one continued to pay any attention to them, all in a state of oblivious drunkenness. It was Daniel who seemed to regain his bearings first, and he looked down at Jack fearfully. The sleight had a silly smile on his face that was wiped clean when he saw the showman’s expression.

“Whatever stupid idea you have in that little head of yours, Atlas, take it out right now,” Jack said menacingly.

Daniel gulped. “Jack—“

Jack glared at him and manhandled Daniel away from the crowd, which was surprisingly easy. Daniel made a note that angry Jack was similar in strength and speed to that of a raging bull, as the crowd parted fairly easily as Jack opened a back door and pulled Daniel out into the open air.

He was barely able to register the stink of the alley Jack had taken him to when his best friend slammed him into a wall, holding him by the collar of his jacket. Daniel knew what just happened, but seeing the fire in his best friend’s eyes and being in such close proximity to him again made him feel that his body was still up for a second round of what just happened.

“Jack, you know we—“ Daniel tried to start, but Jack growled and immediately silenced him with the filthiest, angriest kiss he had ever received in his life. Jack pinned his hands on the wall on his either side, and Daniel lost himself in Jack’s lips, which was all teeth, and growls, and anger.

It eventually calmed down, and Jack released him, instead tenderly holding his face as he deepened the kiss. Daniel responded enthusiastically, and jeez, he really wasn’t going to question why his fucking tarot card reincarnate was probably smiling down at him right now. Whatever it was he did right, he wished he knew, so he could do it again and again, so he could have Jack like this again and again.

Now that he did, by God, he would never let him go.

When they finally broke apart after a few minutes, they separated, slightly out of breath as Jack sagged next to Danny on the dingy alley wall. He stole a glance at Danny, who had a small smile on his face, and Jack grinned, taking Danny’s hand in his. Danny looked at their interlaced fingers in awe as Jack lifted them up to plant a kiss on his best friend’s knuckles.

“You still aren’t going anywhere, Atlas,” Jack said warningly.

Danny shrugged. “Wasn’t planning to.”


	8. December 2007: Presents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So what will happen after all this? I don’t know. But I don’t plan on ever letting you go, and nothing as petty as a criminal record, a failed show, and all the goddamned continents will keep me from wanting to be with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES: Hi, all! So, we’re on to Chapter 8, which is more Christmas fluff than actual storyline, so please bear with me a little bit longer. I’ve been waiting more than a year (by the story’s timeline) for Jack and Danny to get together, and now that they have, I’d like to milk it for all its worth!
> 
> It was very, very tough for me to write Chapter 7, but I hope there was even a little bit of satisfaction there. I learn best by example, so if you could point me to any good material with technique I can use as inspiration for future material, that would be great and very helpful. :)
> 
> For Chapter 8, credit goes to Google Translate for the bits of Italian you’ll be seeing here. I don’t know why I thought it would be nice to make Jack Wilder part-Italian, but then again, this chapter really does not need to make sense in my mind. I’m just satisfying my inner fan girl shipping at this point.
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 4) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

If Jack thought about it, nothing really changed between him and Danny since Halloween.

Sure, the dates were out, because – and Jack smiled just remembering the little squabble they had – Danny definitely didn’t like them (“I never did, but they seemed to make you happy, and what right did I have to keep you from them?” he said with a haughty sniff). And yes, Merritt never let them hear the end of it during their daily practices. Henley was a bit kinder, but not by much, and Jack honestly didn’t mind – he just felt pleasantly touched that at least the two people closest to them were rooting for them even before they could even wrap their heads around the idea of them being together.

To Jack, the biggest (and best, if he did say so himself) change was obvious only to him and Danny.

“Hey, I—mmph,” Jack’s greeting when he entered their shared apartment was immediately cut off by the lips of one very fast and nimble Danny Atlas, who was now crowding Jack into the nearest stretch of wall.

The kiss went on for a few seconds before Danny took a step back and smiled a big, real smile that Jack knew was reserved only for him. His blue eyes twinkled and his cheeks were flushed. “Sorry, uh… hey Jack,” he said casually.

“That was a very enthusiastic greeting, Danny Atlas,” Jack drawled with a half-smile, coming closer and grabbing Danny’s butt, which resulted in a half-squeal, half-yelp from him.

“I did not need to see that,” Merritt groaned the next second, his hands over his face. Henley was next to him, smiling impishly and looking at the pair before them as they took a seat and took out the blueprints.

Jack took it all in stride and shrugged, his offending hand now (sadly) Danny-free. “About time the kids show Mommy and Santa Claus some other kind of action apart from their own,” he said cheekily. “So, are we up for reviewing the itinerary? We are getting this thing started in January, after all. Danny?”

In that moment, his Danny (damn, it felt good to say that) morphed into J. Daniel Atlas, the leader of The Four Horsemen. As Danny ran down the list of things they had to accomplish leading to the grand show in January, Jack couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about everything this anonymous group was asking them to do. If caught – though the blueprints told them they would not be caught for this task – they were facing the very real reality of expulsion (the best case) or a criminal case (the worst case). But looking at Danny, Merritt, and Henley, Jack was somehow comforted knowing that he wasn’t going with this blindly on his own.

“Okay, so the blueprints are saying that at least one of us needs to be back on the 2nd for the first phase, so since my parents are spending Christmas elsewhere, that can be me—“

“Hold up,” Jack interrupted. “Where will you be spending the holidays?”

Danny shrugged. “I’ve asked Marie Claire if I can stay in the apartment for the holidays.”

“Uh, no, you’re not,” the sleight said in a no-nonsense tone. “You can come over for Christmas.”

Danny looked like he was going to counter with another refusal, but he paused and bit back a smile, nodding once. “Thanks, Jack,” he cleared his throat, cheeks coloring slightly.

“This is probably going to sound awkward after that discussion, but I could also come back on the 2nd, as I normally don’t spend the holidays with my family,” Merritt volunteered light-heartedly.

“Neither do I,” Henley said quickly, but without explanation.

There was a short moment of silence, which was broken by Jack’s loud laughter, followed by Merritt’s wheezing laughter, Henley’s high-pitched giggle, and finally Danny’s short chuckle.

“Remind me to make a phone call to my parents tonight,” Jack said, shaking his head disbelievingly. “It’s kind of creepy to think if The Eye has tabs on our schedules and plans before even we do.”

“Hell no,” Danny said immediately, shuddering.

A week later, The Four Horsemen found themselves in front of the Wilders’ home, all decorated for Christmas. Henley chanced a glance at Danny, who, despite his calm exterior, was obviously bat-shit crazy nervous about meeting Jack’s family. Though Jack made it perfectly clear that he would tell his family exactly who all of them were, she figured it can’t be easy for a control-freak like Danny to not know how Jack’s family would receive him.

“Hey, stop being nervous,” she whispered as they stepped up the threshold with their bags.

Danny chuckled. “That obvious?”

“To us, I suppose,” Henley said with a small smile, squeezing his left hand in her gloved one. “Danny, I know you’re nervous not knowing how Jack’s family will take it, but I’m sure they won’t do anything awful to you.”

He shook his head. “I’m not worried for me, Hen. I’m worried for…” he gulped, casting a glance at Jack before looking down at his feet. “I hate not knowing.”

“I know you do,” Henley said with a sigh, pulling him close to her. “But you know two things. One, we’ve got you and Jack covered. Two, Jack obviously likes you enough to do this. Hell, I’d even say loves you enough to do this if it hasn’t been just a month—“

“I do,” Danny interrupted.

“You what?” Henley asked.

He looked back at her with wide blue eyes, and immediately, Henley understood. She smiled and kissed him happily on the cheek. “Did you tell him?” she whispered.

“Hey, you two, behave back there, Merritt and I don’t like what we’re seeing,” Jack said in jest, but there was a worried look in his eyes as he eyed Danny and Henley.

Henley took a step back, raising both her hands in surrender and reassurance, and Jack’s eyes were dimmed of suspicion just as the door swung open. “Jack!” came a happy female’s voice. “You’re home, amore mio!”

Jack grinned down at a smaller woman who was unmistakably his mother. He hugged her, allowing her to kiss him on each cheek, before he finally kissed her forehead. “I missed you, Mama,” he said warmly before turning to the other three. “Guys, come meet my mother, Monica.”

Monica Wilder was a remarkably beautiful woman with exquisite features, with long brown hair pulled back in a high ponytail, no makeup, and dressed very simply in an olive green turtleneck and black leggings. Henley could see now why Jack was as good-looking as he was: he shared the same tan complexion, deep brown eyes, fine nose, and face shape as his elegant mother.

“Wait, let me see if my memory serves me right,” Monica said as she stepped in front of Merritt.

Smiling, Merritt took off his hat with his left hand, took her left hand in his right, and dipped down to kiss her knuckles. “Buongiorno, bella signora.”

Monica smiled and took his face in her hands, planting a kiss on both his cheeks. With some amusement, Henley noted that Merritt blushed very slightly at that. “It’s very nice to meet you, Merritt.”

Jack’s mother stepped in front of Henley, giving her a warm smile before planting a kiss on both her cheeks as well. “Bellisimo! You are as beautiful as Jack says you are, Henley.”

Henley turned to Jack, who was now blushing lightly. She noted that Danny was watching her this time with narrowed eyes. “Oh, does he?” she giggled. “Well, from such a beautiful woman, grazie, Mrs. Wilder.”

“Prego, mi amore,” Monica winked at Henley before she turned to face Danny, who was now (at least in Henley’s eyes) a pure nervous wreck.

He smiled a little too much and extended a shaking hand. “Buongiorno, Signora Wilder. Felice—fe—it’s so nice to meet you—“

Monica laughed, surprising Danny by pulling him close in a warm embrace. “L’amore di mio figlio – I’m happy to meet you too, Danny,” she said as she planted a kiss on both his cheeks before looking at his face. “You really do have amazing blue eyes, just like Jack said—“

“Mama, si prega di non dire loro niente altro! Please don’t tell them anything else!” Jack complained suddenly, causing the three to turn to him in surprise. 

Danny looked particularly intrigued at this development. “You never said you were fluent,” he said curiously.

“Only when he’s stressed,” Monica chuckled. “So if you want to hear him speak perfect Italian, make him angry. Shall I show you to your rooms?”

“See, she liked you,” Jack said happily as he placed Danny’s bag on the bed set up a few feet to the left of his own, next to the window. “She wouldn’t even have touched you if she didn’t like you.”

Danny gave him a small smile, happiness in every part of his face. “I like your mom. She reminds me of you.”

Jack mock-frowned. “Oh, that’s not good. Does that mean you were seized with the urge to drive her up against the wall and kiss her senseless, too? Hey man, that will hurt me too much.”

“How do you put this… pervertito,” Danny shook his head. “She said something awhile ago, though. What was it?”

Jack colored lightly. “Oh, don’t mind that. It was a good thing, though, I promise you.”

“Well, if it was a good thing, why don’t you tell me?” Danny said with a half-smile.

Jack was thankful that Merritt and Henley had chosen exactly that moment to burst into their room with their own bags, having been taken on a tour around the house by Monica. The look on Danny’s face, though, told Jack that he wasn’t about to let this go, and an overwhelming feeling of dread seized his insides.

Over coffee later that afternoon, Mrs. Wilder was busy regaling them with stories of Little Jack, complete with photo albums, much to the chagrin and heightening embarrassment of Jack when Jack’s father arrived from work. With greying ash blonde hair and cerulean eyes, Ken Wilder was warm and amiable, though not as much as his wife. The older man had Jack’s devious one-sided smile, though, and Merritt found that he liked the older man as much as he liked Jack’s mother.

“Hey, Pops!” Jack hugged his father before turning to the three. “Pops, these are my friends, Henley and Merritt.”

Ken greeted both of them with a warm hug for Henley and a firm handshake for Merritt. He turned to Danny, and Merritt saw some hesitation and tension in both men’s eyes, but Ken gave a real smile and extended a hand. “And this young man is not?” he joked to Jack.

“Yeah, Pops, he’s not,” Jack said, looking at Danny with warm eyes. “This is Danny, my boyfriend.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Danny said politely, taking Ken’s outstretched hand and shaking it.

“Likewise, Danny. Jack was talking about you from way before, and how he was excited to go to Octa because you were going too. You’ve been a pretty good influence on him!” Ken said, clapping Danny on the shoulder.

Merritt detected a hint of nervousness and slight disappointment in the older Wilder’s voice as he addressed Danny – his voice was much too loud for it to be real enthusiasm, but he also saw and knew Ken Wilder loved his son enough to never hurt him by voicing said nervousness and disappointment. Much to his relief, the way everyone was smiling and the way Danny’s tense posture relaxed significantly told him that no one else seemed to detect the underlying thoughts in the patriarch’s mind.

The Four Horsemen were kept extremely busy the next few days – not with school or show matters, but with holiday matters. The Wilder Christmas reunion was coming up, and they had finally pressured Mrs. Wilder into allowing them to help in the preparations. Sparing barely any time to spend together, they had finally allowed themselves to be shooed away by Mrs. Wilder when the last decorations were up and the last dishes prepared.

Merritt and Henley had excused themselves to go to town for a whole day together, while Jack and Danny opted to stay closer, heading instead to the park close to Jack’s home. They jumped lazily from one topic to another, from the show to school to their friends to Jack’s family. Jack was trying to teach Danny how to ape people’s voices (which he was having little to no success with), sending both of them into peals of laughter as Danny attempted to ape Merritt.

“Okay, I noticed that you’re a little pent-up physically, and you need some release,” Danny tried in his best Merritt-sounding voice. “Given your physical dilemma, and my availability, I propose that we…”

Jack snorted. “Do you really think that’s how Merritt used to pick up girls? Cheap and meaningless sex talk?”

“Cheap and meaningless, but uh, not time consuming,” Danny responded, still in Merritt’s voice.

“Oh my God, you sounded just like him when you said that line!” Jack howled with laughter, wiping tears from his eyes. “Oh, J. Daniel Atlas, you are amazing.”

“Amazing enough for you to want to kiss me?” Danny said, now in his voice.

Jack grinned, pulling the other boy closer to him using the scarf wrapped around his neck. He planted a cold kiss on Danny’s equally cold lips, blowing slightly on the lips, enjoying the mist that formed. “Sure, why not?” he said.

Danny’s eyes widened as he reached into his coat pocket. “Oh, speaking of, I wanted to give this to you alone.” He pulled out a neatly wrapped box and handed it to Jack. “Here.”

“Is this a present?” Jack said excitedly, taking the box.

Danny rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure I should dignify that question with an answer.”

“Dick,” Jack teased lightly, opening the box to reveal a pair of Ray Bans, much to his surprise. “Hey, this is… this is amazing. How’d you know I wanted one of these?”

“Well, I had a theory, since you were basically fixated on every photo that had a Ray Ban in it, but I had to confirm with Merritt,” Danny said the last part begrudgingly.

“No deck of cards or handcuffs for the sleight of The Horsemen?” Jack said jokingly.

Danny looked at him with all seriousness. “I think you know that you’re much more than that, Jack.”

Jack smiled gently, placing a kiss on Danny’s forehead. “Thanks, man. I—“

“Jack?” Both turned to the direction of the pleasant voice that called out Jack’s name.

Jack let out a breathy and disbelieving laugh as he stood up with a whoop and ran to the girl. “Lara!” he cried out happily, picking her up in his arms and kissing her on the cheek rather sloppily.

Danny followed Jack carefully, a smile pulling the corner of his lips. The older girl turned to him with a curious look in her blue eyes as Jack reached a hand out to him. “Danny, this is Lara, my sister. Lars, this is my boyfriend, Danny.”

With her cream-colored complexion, ash blonde hair, and blue eyes, she was a different kind of beauty from her brother, taking more after their father than their mother. Her lips turned up in a smile as Danny extended a hand to her. “Oh, you’re gorgeous, Danny,” she gushed.

“Hey, find your own boyfriend, Lara,” Jack whined.

“No, I don’t go around finding them, they should come find me,” she said arrogantly.

“And you wonder why you’re single,” he scoffed at his sister.

Lara swatted him lightly on the arm before slipping her arms into Danny’s left arm and Jack’s right. “No, but I do wonder what’s for dinner and what my presents will be tonight.”

The Wilder Christmas reunion was insane. Danny didn’t even bother trying to remember everyone’s names after Jack introduced him to the tenth second cousin later that evening, but he did note that it was a sea of blonde hair and blue eyes. Every time he and Jack would get separated by the throng of people, it was always easy to find him by his boyfriend’s dark brown hair (or, if he really couldn’t find Jack, he would search for Henley’s waterfall of bright red hair, or Merritt’s signature black hat).

Boyfriend. He smiled to himself, liking how it sounded in his head. He realized just now how long he had waited for it.

“The crowd too much for you?” Jack said apologetically much later, when the crowd finally started to thin out, as he stood beside Danny out on the backyard.

“Nah,” Danny shook his head. “I’m pretty good. You?”

Jack put an arm around Danny’s shoulder, bringing them closer together with a smile. “Never better.” He took a deep breath, inhaling the mist, feeling the cold air fill his lungs. “What are we going to do after all this?”

“After the show, you mean?”

“After everything, I guess.”

Danny shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Jack turned to Danny in mock-surprise. “J. Daniel Atlas has no plan?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I do,” he said quietly, looking at Jack with ocean blue eyes. “When all this is over, and we’re back to our normal lives or on the run from the authorities, I’m going to continue kissing you thoroughly each and every day until such time you don’t want my lips on yours. And when the time comes you don’t want them and you get sick of it, I’m going to come to you every day talking you through why my lips should be back on yours. And I will do it again and again, because if it means I will need to be without you, then that’s not a fucking option.”

Jack froze, mesmerized at Danny’s serious eyes and tone. He never knew him to be so expressive about anything, let alone about their relationship. He wasn’t done, though.

“I have wanted to be with you, Jack Wilder, from the moment I saw you doing your silly shuffles more than a year ago. And now that I’m with you, I don’t think I can learn to let you go under any circumstance, whatsoever,” Danny gulped, as though realizing just how forthcoming he had been with his thoughts. “So what will happen after all this? I don’t know. But I don’t plan on ever letting you go, and nothing as petty as a criminal record, a failed show, and all the goddamned continents will keep me from wanting to be with you.”

The cold December wind contrasted to the overpowering warmth inside Jack, and he was seized with a very real sensation in his chest as he pulled Danny even closer, pressing his cold lips against the side of the showman’s face.

He felt Danny suck in a sharp breath as his lips grazed Danny’s ear, ready to say what he knew Danny meant, and what he had always known, in the only way his simple vocabulary could comfortably articulate, hoping to God that Danny would know it.

“Me too,” Jack said simply.

God damn it, Danny loved Christmas presents.


	9. January 2008: Opening Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Danny were to think about it, he didn’t have the best tricks up his sleeve: he had two friends and the boyfriend who did, and that was okay. He bore the name “the showman” with pride, because – after all – people did look for a good show, and he prided himself on being able to give it to them, with his plethora of well-practiced parlor tricks and (more than) a little help from his friends… and Jack, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that I’ve satisfied my inner fan girl for now, it’s time to get to the show that these guys have been talking about. You’ll see some familiar faces in this chapter moving forward. Feedback is more than welcome, so feel free to drop me a note in the comments section or at ficamaze@gmail.com.
> 
> On a special note, I know I mentioned Dylan Rhodes was the golden boy back in Jack’s high school, back when I had different plans for him in the third chapter. But you know how stories take lives of their own (and besides, the original NYSM storyline was more than good enough), so let me apologize and say that I will be taking him out of the first storyline so he can play the role he was originally meant to all along – the bad cop.
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 4) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

The minute they got back on January 2nd, it really was show time.

** THE BANK OF THE EAST SCHOLARSHIP FUND IS A SHAM.  
IT TAKES ONLY TEN SCHOLARS EVERY YEAR WHEN IT IS CAPABLE OF TAKING AT LEAST TWO HUNDRED. **

The first time The Four Horsemen perused the blueprints to find out where the remaining scholarship funds go, they were sickened. The Board of Directors didn’t even nearly try to hide their excesses: small houses in prime spots of the country, new Rolexes flashed during the annual meetings, endless club and spa memberships, thousand-dollar anniversary dinners, all in their social media accounts.

** YOUR MAIN AUDIENCE ON JANUARY 20th: THE PAST AND PRESENT SCHOLARS OF THE BANK OF THE EAST.  
RETURN WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY THEIRS. **

The Eye had a carefully laid out plan which they were to follow to the dot, each requiring their different set skills – particularly Merritt’s, Henley’s, and Jack’s. It was clear that Danny’s showmanship was needed for the big show, and not for the preparatory work, and more than once was he forced to wait for his two friends and his boyfriend while they were out accomplishing the impossible checklist he had prepared for them. It was never any less of a relief when they came back, giving each other high fives with big smiles on their faces.

On top of the preparations, they still had the last show they were hired to do back in October. It was flawless, as they had planned, which turned in their favor, because the show turned out to be for the 60th birthday of none other than Arthur Tressler, the school’s biggest benefactor, who was so impressed with the four that he took them under his wing. He wanted to make them stars, he said, which is why he arranged to have their first show moved from the school auditorium of Octa to the biggest theater in town, making sure it was packed by hiring countless seat warmers.

The news that the school’s biggest benefactor was now also the benefactor of The Four Horsemen was sensational. The local school organ talked about it, the local media talked about it. Everything was happening so fast, and it was all so much all at once, and it somehow made Danny nervous. There were so many variables that he could lose control of the situation, and he couldn’t have that, he was the leader, he was responsible for the other three, he can’t afford to lose control…

“Don’t make me force you into calming down, asswipe,” Merritt’s voice broke into his train of thought. The mentalist plopped down next to him, eyeing the mess of cards on the table in front of them.

Danny shook his head. “There are too many uncontrollable factors.”

“Oh, you only saw them now?” Merritt said with a sarcastic grin. “Welcome to the plan, Danny boy.”

The showman ran his hand through the short bristles on his head. “You’re really not helping.”

“What do you want me to say, Daniel? That everything will be okay? Everything will go perfectly, and according to their plans?” Merritt said in a somewhat gentler tone. “I wish I knew that, but even I’m not that good.”

The corners of Danny’s mouth twitched. “You aren’t?”

The older boy groaned. “Don’t make me say that again.”

“I heard it: even I’m not that good. Did the great Merritt McKinney just say he wasn’t good?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Oh, yes, I did.”

“Do I hear the babies fighting?” Henley’s voice interrupted their squabbling as she entered their apartment with a bag full of takeout.

“Where’s Jack?” Danny asked automatically.

Henley rolled her eyes, setting the bags down on the counter. “He’s out taking a call.”

“A call?” Danny parroted with a frown.

“Danny, can you not? He’s with you, but he’s still entitled to one telephone call a month, isn’t he?” Henley said sarcastically. Danny didn’t seem to catch it.

“Would you know who he was talking to?”

“Nope, no idea,” Henley said a little too quickly, enough for Merritt to know that she was lying. “It’s probably just his mom or his sister. He mentioned Lara’s birthday coming up.”

Pacified at the idea, Danny shrugged and stood up. “I’m taking a shower before dinner if Jack looks for me.”

“And why would he—oh, never mind,” Merritt groaned again as Danny shot them both a wink before disappearing into his and Jack’s shared bedroom. He immediately turned to Henley. “Lula called Jack, didn’t she? And you heard a bit of the first part?”

Henley nodded miserably. “She drunk called Jack, by the sound of it. I’m not sure what they’re talking about, but I didn’t think Danny should know just yet. It’s not my thing to tell.”

“Well, I hope Jack-o tells Danny boy soon. We can’t afford to go on show with distractions in Jack’s mind.”

Merritt was disappointed that night, however, when Jack came in, looking almost perfectly normal, acting like nothing had happened. To the kid’s credit, he successfully managed to not answer the question on who called him, misdirecting Danny to another answer instead. It wasn’t until hours before the actual show that the truth about the phone call came out.

“Jack?” came a female’s voice by the threshold of their backstage dressing room door.

It was like Jack had seen a ghost when he turned to face Lula, who was looking timid and hesitant by the door. Merritt winced when he observed Danny watching them back and forth, his eyes narrowing as he began to piece together the pieces of the puzzle.

“It was her?” Danny asked calmly, his voice betraying nothing. When neither of them answered, he cleared his throat. “Well, we’ll give you two some privacy.”

“Danny—“

“Be backstage in ten minutes, and for the love of God, don’t be late,” Danny said choppily before stalking out of the dressing room. Merritt and Henley followed suit.

“You didn’t tell him I called?” Lula asked gently.

“I didn’t think it was the right time, with the show and all. So thanks for ruining it,” Jack said bitterly. “What do you want, Lula?”

Lula shook her head. “Nothing, not any more. It’s… clear to me now, that there’s no going back.”

“Wasn’t it always?”

She shrugged. “You know these things come in stages, right? Maybe I was in denial for a long, long time. That if we had some time apart, we’d eventually realize that we are still good together, after all.”

Jack’s eyes softened as he looked at her. “I always thought we are. You’re still my best girl, Lula.”

She gave him a watery smile. “I know. I better be.”

He chuckled. “I’d hug you, but for the benefit of not being caught in a compromising situation, I’ll save it for a better time. I hope that’s okay.”

She shook her head, smiling. “You really don’t want to lose him, don’t you?”

“Oh, hell no,” he said with a shudder, taking a look at his watch. “Hey, I better go. I’ll see you after the show, yeah?”

It was hard to tell in the dim backstage lighting, but Jack thought that Danny’s eyes and nose were rimmed with red as the showman fixed him with a blank stare. They barely had five minutes before the curtain rose, but Jack didn’t care: he wrapped his arms around Danny and brought their lips together in an honest, all-consuming kiss. For a few seconds, Danny did not respond and Jack was starting to panic, but he eventually felt Danny relax in his hold and respond enthusiastically, running his fingers through his hair and tugging slightly.

They broke apart when they heard the announcer’s cue. Jack grinned at him and brushed a hand across his cheek. “You’re up, man. We need our leader.”

Danny said nothing, but he never took his eyes off Jack until he was fully lit onstage, at which he turned to the roaring crowd. “Good evening, New York!” he said into his lapel microphone, his voice booming all around them. “We are The Four Horsemen. Let me introduce you to my friends: Merritt McKinney, the master of mentalism!”

Merritt jogged to join Danny onstage, saying once he took his place, “Please welcome Henley Reeves, our beautiful escape artist!”

Henley came out, winking at the crowd and standing next to Merritt. “New York, say hello to our master sleight of hand, Jack Wilder!”

“And where would we be without our master showman?” Jack drawled as he took his place next to Danny. “Daniel Atlas, New York!”  
They were given an hour and a half to perform, but it felt to them like no time at all to any of them. Merritt kicked off the show with a round of mass hypnotism, getting completely random members of the audience do all sorts of crazy tricks and impersonations. A water tank was brought out for Henley’s death-defying “failed” piranha escape act, and Jack followed suit with his slicing card tricks and holding up more members of the audience onstage of their personal effects. The audience loved each and every one of their tricks.

If Danny were to think about it, he didn’t have the best tricks up his sleeve: he had two friends and the boyfriend who did, and that was okay. He bore the name “the showman” with pride, because – after all – people did look for a good show, and he prided himself on being able to give it to them, with his plethora of well-practiced parlor tricks and (more than) a little help from his friends… and Jack, of course.

“Now for our final act—“ Danny’s words were met with an outcry of ‘boos’ and catcalls. He shrugged apologetically. 

Jack laughed. “Sorry guys, we’ll miss you too. So for our final act, we wanted to make sure that it will be huge.”

“Tonight, we are doing something never before seen on any stage holding street magicians!” Henley supplied.

“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight – we are going to rob a bank!” Danny cried out.

Cheers and laughter filled the audience, and Danny drank in the adoration and attention. This moment was the biggest high he ever felt in his life, and nothing could possibly top this—he saw Jack to his right, stealing a glance at him with a smile on his face, and he backtracked: make that the second biggest high in his life.

“To add a little twist here, we’re going to rob your chosen bank!” Danny continued, gesturing to the other three with fish bowls full of small lottery balls. “In those three bowls are section numbers, row numbers, and seat numbers, and we’re getting you to pick them for us! Merritt, if you could ask an audience member to please pick a section number…”

He held up all three numbers for the entire audience to see. “Section B, Row 5, Seat 13! Who is this lucky person?” A dark-haired man with a French accent stood up with a smile, as though unable to believe that he was chosen. “Ah, there he is! Sir, can you please confirm that in fact this is your seat number?”

The man nodded, saying a flustered “Yes!” into the microphone given to him.

“Can you tell us your name and your chosen bank, sir?”

“My name is Étienne Forcier and my chosen bank is the Bank of the East Scholarship Fund,” the man said, not skipping a beat.

Danny groaned, “Oh, a scholarship fund. Couldn’t it have been a corrupt financial institution that could afford to lose truckloads of money?” The audience laughed at this. “But, a deal’s a deal. Étienne, sir, please join us onstage.”

As their chosen audience member jogged up to join them, with Merritt ready to receive him, Danny cast a glance at the other two, and gave them a tiny wink. “Before we end the night with our final act, there’s someone we would like to thank,” he started.

“When we signed on for a show, we had no idea it was to celebrate the rich, rich, rich life of this wonderful man,” Henley said in an innocently sweet tone.

“Rich, rich, rich indeed,” Jack supplied, causing some female voices in the group to screech. Danny felt a secret pang of possessiveness at that. “We literally could not have made it here without him. He is our friend and benefactor, ladies and gentlemen: Mr. Arthur Tressler!” Arthur Tressler stood up, waved around the cheering crowd, and accepted the microphone handed to him.

“Art, we dedicate this final act to you, and please note that your name is prominently displayed on top of ours,” Henley told him with a smile.

“If you’re as good as you think you are, dear girl, that won’t be necessary for much longer,” came his heavily accented and no-nonsense reply.

Étienne Forcier was smiling onstage with slightly glazed eyes, and Danny knew that it was time to get the show on the road. This was part of what they were preparing for, everything that brought them together, and all they had to do now was sit back and give the audience a good show. They played the audience up exactly as how they planned it: wondering, waiting, speculating, before – finally – wowing, shocking, amazing when the cash in the “safe” Étienne was in started spinning around in a vortex, sucked through a thick pipe, and finally, showered specifically into the VIP section of the theater, which contained their “special guests”.

People were going wild, screaming as they scooped up as much money as they could. Bouncers had to keep the nearby audience members from jumping into the VIP section, and from his seat near the front, they could see Arthur Tressler laughing and clapping loudly, leading a standing ovation as the four linked hands onstage.

“We are The Four Horsemen, good night!” they screamed simultaneously as they gave their final bow.

The waiting was the hardest part, according to the blueprints, but they were fully assured that the police would have nothing on them. The next day, all four of them were in the hotel room Tressler had provided them for the night: Merritt was reading a book on the couch, Henley was upstairs, double-checking her bags and possessions, Jack was reclined on a single seat, his feet propped up on the table, and Danny was by the window, playing with his cards and – occasionally – glancing around the room.

“Danny, would you please stop fussing and sit your cute butt down?” Jack called out from his seat, eyes still closed.

Danny scoffed. “That’s rich, given you have no proof as to whether my butt is indeed cute or not.”

Merritt looked up sharply from his book. “Wait, you’ve been together almost three months and pining for each other for a little more than a year, and you’re telling me…”

“Drop it, Mer,” Jack said heatedly and lazily at the same time.

The mentalist shook his head and went back to reading his book. “You two really need couples’ therapy. I’ll take ten bucks for it, see if you can’t get enough of each other after I’m done with you.”

“FREEZE!” came a loud voice from the other side of the entrance door before it was kicked open by several men with guns. Danny’s eyebrow raised slightly – FBI, no less. The Eye was right. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jack feign a look of utter annoyance at having been deprived of his nap as he lazily raised his hands in the air.

“Un momento,” Merritt said lazily, his book covering his face.

“Put your hands in the air!” the man cried out, aiming at Merritt.

Merritt put down his book and raised his fingers in a V sign. “Okay, you got me.”

Henley was making her way down the stairs, and the team of guns turned to her quickly. “Oops!” she said brightly. “Do one of you mind giving us a hand with our bags?”

** THE FBI WILL TAKE ALL FOUR OF YOU IN. TWO OF YOU WILL BE INTERROGATED. **

“This is Merritt McKinney, twenty-one years old, psych major in Octa, set to graduate with honors by next year. Brilliant, his professors called him, and responsible for our witness being rendered completely useless.”

Dylan Rhodes winced. He remembered their useless witness, poor Mr. Forcier, currently finishing his concerto in the other room. The young agent looked at the files and at his companion, a lovely blonde French girl named Alma Dray. His boss had taken the girl in, saying that she might be able to help in the interrogation, as a friendly face that the four kids knew from school. Personally, he felt that the addition of Alma Dray was an unwelcome one, something that would only complicate the situation as is, but he really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

She looked at him questioningly. “Well, Agent, shouldn’t you get to work?”

Merritt took one look at Dylan and Alma as they entered and grinned deviously. “Alma, you never told me you had a type.”

Dylan was about to immediately go on the defense, but Alma rolled her eyes simply. “Knock it off, Merritt. You’re in trouble, and the faster you cooperate with these guys, the faster you guys can get out of here.” There was a commanding tone in her casual statement, something that Dylan couldn’t help but admire.

Merritt fell silent, instead eyeing an older agent lurking outside the door. He grinned as he turned to the pair. “Agent Rhodes, could you please tell your senior agent over there that there’s absolutely no shame in the Tranny Tuesdays arrangement he’s made with his wife. We do live in the 21st century, after all. No shame, Agent Fuller! No shame!”

Dylan thought he heard a groan from Agent Fuller, even through the closed door of the interrogation room. Merritt wheezed a small laugh, looking at both of them with a light in his eyes. “Just having some fun.”

** THEY HAVE NO HOLD ON YOU, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, THEY WILL ACCEPT ‘MAGIC’ AS A VALID ANSWER ON HOW YOU ROBBED A BANK FROM A STAGE IN NEW YORK. **

“Okay, J. Daniel Atlas, pre-law, with fairly average grades, no other extra-curriculars apart from the occasional show with the other three… you seem to be a fairly well-rounded student, Daniel,” Dylan started, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Let’s cut the crap, Agent Rhodes,” Daniel said arrogantly, leaning back against his chair. “You know – as do your superiors – know that you can’t hold us here. Not unless you’re willing to accept that magic got that money out somehow.”

“But I can hold you for whatever it is you know, because it can’t possibly be a coincidence that the money from the scholarship fund went missing at the exact time you chose to ‘rob’ it for a show!” Dylan said hotly.

“Can you?” Daniel raised an eyebrow, challenging the agent. “I’m not too sure about that. Pre-law, remember?”

“Okay, smart ass, how about this, I let you go, but let me keep your boyfriend here for a little while,” Dylan said menacingly. “I know you two are fairly new, but do you really want me to test the limits of Jack Wilder while he’s in police custody?

The threat registered in Danny’s mind, and for a split second, he saw red. No freaking way did this smart mouth just threaten Jack on account of anything else in this world. But he remembered The Eye’s explicit instructions, and just decided to keep his cool and play along. He shrugged and smiled cockily, which seemed to infuriate Agent Rhodes all the more.

“Do what you like, Agent Rhodes, anything to get you a little bit closer to where we are now.”

** THEY WILL USE YOUR KNOWN ALLIANCES AND RELATIONSHIPS AGAINST YOU, BUT YOU MUSTN’T LET THEM GET TO YOU. TRY TO TURN IT AGAINST THEM. **

“So what exactly is ‘mentalism’, Mr. McKinney?”

“Tricks, mostly, some of it science, a bit of targeted guessing here and there, and then there’s the…” He held his head for dramatic effect. “… occasional voices in my head.”

Dylan looked at Merritt almost condescendingly for a split second, as though wondering whether to take the mentalist seriously or not. He decided against exerting any more effort than necessary, though, and turned to the files before him. “So it says here you’re a twin to Chase McKinney—“ Merritt snorted derisively, “—and you two are clearly not on good terms. What happened to that relationship, Merritt? Mommy and Daddy picked him over you?”

Merritt grinned indulgently. “It’s so cute that you try, Agent, my little mentalist,” he cooed before clearing his throat and leaning back on his chair. “You want to know how it’s done? See, you grit your teeth just a little bit when you said the words ‘mommy and daddy’, so I’m sensing some big parental issues over here. Warmer?”

Dylan fixed Merritt with what he was clearly attempting to be a blank stare, but Merritt knew better. He was, indeed, getting close. “Mommy? Oh wait, no… it’s Daddy, isn’t it?” he said gently, his confirmation coming from the way the young agent breathed heavily through his nose.

“Merritt,” Alma said warningly.

“You know what, Agent Rhodes, let me tell you two things,” Merritt said easily. “The first thing: don’t mix yourself up in what you think you know, because I’m telling you, it never ends well for anyone. The damage will be massive, and you’ll end up with a big, stinking pile of nada.”

“Oh, you think so?” Dylan sneered. “And your second point?”

“Oh, right,” Merritt cleared his throat. “I’m sitting here, reading you and telling you what an ordinary therapist would charge you truckloads of money for. I’m willing to take a tenner, usually, but for you?”

He waited for Dylan to reply. All he got from the angry agent, however, was stony silence and a death glare, so he widened his grin. “I’ll still take a tenner.” 

** THEY WILL THREATEN TO USE YOUR WEAKNESSES AGAINST YOU. **

Agent Rhodes was too easy to wind up, it was almost funny. Danny knew he ought to thank Merritt for making his round of interrogation much easier – it can’t have been easy to sit through twenty minutes with a mentalist who would read exactly what your next moves were, but right now, he was having too much fun.

“Daniel, listen to me,” Alma interjected, putting a calming hand on Rhodes’ shoulder as he clenched his fists. “If you didn’t do it, you must know who did. For the sake of you and your whole team, please start talking.”

Danny held back a smile, lifting his empty hands up in the air. “You got us, it’s—“

“You know what’s magic?” Dylan interjected angrily. “It’s putting supposedly hard-to-catch criminals behind bars for the rest of their lives with absolutely nothing to show for. That’s my kind of magic. I’m going to catch you in the act, Atlas, and when I’m going to be all over you—“

“—like white on rice?” Danny said quickly. “Sure, sure.”

Dylan scoffed. “Don’t think you can fool me with your smug façade, Atlas. I’m going to have you watched every step of the way, and I’m going to have you arrested.”

“If it means you’re actually going to do it, yeah, sure,” Danny countered. “Because if you do, then that means – at an institutional level – you actually believe in magic. The press is going to have a field day: we’ll be more famous than we already are, and you, Agent Rhodes, will look like even bigger idiots than you already are.”

The young agent smirked. “You and Mr. Wilder better watch your backs, Atlas. I’ll be close.”

Danny’s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward. “Come closer then, Agent Rhodes, because the closer you look, the less you’ll actually see. At no point in the future will you be no more or no less exactly where I want you to be, because we will always be one step, three steps, seven steps ahead, and just when you think you’re getting somewhere—” BAM! He slammed a chained hand on the table. “—that’s when you’ll see us right behind you. So come closer with your empty threats for my team, for me, for Jack, and I promise you, Agent Rhodes – you will regret it.”

“I’m going to nail you—!”

In all happened in a split second – both men stood up quickly and, with a flash of silver, Dylan found himself cuffed to the table, Daniel’s hands completely free. The showman glanced at the soda can in front of the French woman deviously. “Something wrong with your soda, Alms?”

Alma shook the can, rolled her eyes, and opened it. Dylan Rhodes continued to glare angrily at Danny as Alma uncuffed him, snatching his “saved” phone from the younger man.

“Most important lesson in magic, Agent Rhodes,” Danny supplied. “Always be the smartest guy in the room.”

** WHEN ALL THAT IS DONE, GO HOME AND PREPARE FOR THE NEXT ACT. **

They all collapsed in their respective places when they finally got back to their apartment. For a good ten minutes, there was only silence, allowing the situation and the last two days to sink in to them.

Then Henley let out a little nervous giggle. Merritt started laughing his loud, wheezing laugh shortly afterwards. Jack was smirking and shaking his head before bursting into laughter with Merritt, and soon enough Danny was laughing as well, tears streaming down his face as he realized the gravity of what they just went through. He looked at the three, still laughing, and he thought to himself, _God, that felt good._

Danny’s eyes landed on Jack, who was panting from laughing so much. There was a strange feeling inside him, and when Jack’s dark eyes connected with his gaze, something in him broke, and he realized that whatever brought them together last October was nothing – nothing – compared to what was stirring in him right now.

“Okay, we’re just going to…” Merritt said hastily, taking Henley’s gloved hand in his and leading her out of the room in record time. “See you boys later.”

Danny barely heard or cared. He only saw and cared about one thing now, and that was the way Jack was eyeing him, like a predator circling its prey. Whatever was brewing in him – damn it, whatever it was would kill him – must have been obvious in the way he was gazing at Jack, because his boyfriend’s eyes narrowed as he quickly stood up from where he sat and – in record time – closed the distance between them so fast that Danny was able to register nothing else but Jack, Jack, Jack.

Nothing could have prepared him for this at all. This was not part of his plan, or anyone’s plan, but like with all things that had to do with Jack, Danny just found that he was once more losing himself in the moment. Jack was pushing him into the open door of a room – he didn’t know if it was his or Jack, and damn it, he thought he could live with holding and kissing Jack Wilder for the rest of his blissful life, but now he was second guessing himself, he wanted so much more, but he wasn’t sure if Jack wanted it, and if he didn’t he was going to lose his mind, but if he did, he didn’t know if he would still want to stay, and if they did _oh God, oh God, oh God…_

“Danny!” Jack’s sharp cry broke into his reverie. He noticed that both of Jack’s hands were on his shoulders, practically shaking him, and he blinked, confused. “Hey, hey, you’ve got this. We’re just… doing what we usually do. Nothing more, okay?”

It was as though Jack was talking to a wounded animal, and Danny was reminded of what just happened. He groaned, hanging his lead low – he had to have a fucking panic attack right before… “Damn it!” he cried out angrily, kicking the side table down.

Jack didn’t move, watching Danny pace around the room, muttering to himself. He felt like kicking himself: he shouldn’t have made a move. If he had just kept it in his pants, Danny wouldn’t even have had a fucking panic attack because he wanted to—

Danny sat on the bed, putting his hands behind his head in frustration. When Danny calmed down, he carefully took a seat next to him, but kept his distance so as not to scare the other man. “Hey, I’m sorry,” Jack said gently.

Danny’s head snapped up. “What?”

“I… I didn’t mean to come on to you,” Jack said apologetically, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I was just being an idiot. I get that you don’t want to take… take this further, and that’s fine, I’m not here for that—“

“Wait, what?” Danny said agitatedly. “You think I… don’t want you?”

Jack looked at Danny, confused. “You panicked, man.”

Danny shook his head desperately, horribly frustrated. “No, no, no, no, no!” he cried out. He wanted to be so good at articulating exactly how this man made him feel, but he was never a man of the right words, and all he could say was, “I want you so fucking much, but I’m afraid that you won’t.”

Jack knew that what Danny said wouldn’t make sense to most people, but he prided himself on not being “most people”. J. Daniel Atlas feared nothing and no one – he proved that much in the interrogation room. And he knew now that the more the mighty Atlas feared, the more he… it made all sense to him now, and he closed the gap between them and took Danny in his arms, feeling his boyfriend sink into him almost immediately.

“That’s not possible, Atlas. Have you seen how positively sexy you are? Who doesn’t want some of that?” Jack said in jest, hoping to lighten the mood. The desire was gone now, replaced by an overwhelming sense of affection.

Danny chuckled darkly, shaking his head. “I blew it, didn’t I?”

“Not really, no,” Jack wagged his eyebrows. “You still could.”

Danny punched him in the arm, earning a laugh from Jack as he partially let go of Danny, keeping one arm around him. “You’re horrible,” Danny said simply.

“But yours. That’s the beauty of it,” Jack offered sweetly.

Jack really had no idea just how beautiful it was to Danny, indeed.


	10. March 2008: Repairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If their rising and heated voices (usually from Daniel) or the angry storming offs (usually by Jack) weren’t enough to indicate trouble in paradise, there were more signs to rely on. There was always the furtive and manic glances of one to the other when the other wasn’t looking (almost always from Daniel to Jack). Merritt also saw the knee jerk attempts to comfort the upset other before catching himself and withdrawing the helping hand before the other even sees it being offered (Jack to Daniel).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re halfway through, unless the story writes itself out more quickly than I originally anticipated! I’m not quite ready, though, to hurry this story along, so I’m working on some interludes that will be published here and there. I foresee things to be quite hectic at work for the next few weeks, so I’m honestly not sure when the next update will be, but I hope the recent update spree and new one-shot angst-laden story (what is #shamelessplugging) will be enough until the next time. Feedback is more than welcome, so feel free to drop me a note in the comments section or email me directly at ficamaze@gmail.com – especially for those interested in beta-ing future chapters.
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 4) Should anyone be willing to beta read the magic technicalities in future chapters, then raise your hand so we can talk. And can more of you please share awesome Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess stories? We would all love that.

It was sometimes difficult for most people to forget that The Four Horsemen did have a life outside of magic: as their teachers would remind them, they were – first and foremost – students before they became the rogue magicians that were quickly becoming famous for eluding the law. A close brush with the FBI apparently did not excuse them from deadlines and finals: in fact, it all the more meant owning up to the responsibilities and – Jack learned the hard way – the drama expected of students.

In the thick of being interrogated by the FBI, almost moving his and Danny’s relationship to the next level (Jack still felt bitter about the ‘almost’ bit), the increasing number of arguments he’s had since then with said boyfriend, and basically having to keep up with the workload and reading list of a literature major, he never had that dreaded discussion with Lula on how to move their friendship along. However, he knew there was no getting around it, not if he wanted to keep their friendship intact despite everything that happened.

When he casually brought up the matter with Danny over dinner one time, he thought Danny was going to have another panic attack or – worse – an aneurysm. Instead, his boyfriend rubbed his temples once and looked at him calmly, taking a deep breath. “Do you think this is absolutely necessary, having this conversation with her?”

Jack nodded. “She’s still my best friend, Danny, and she always will be.”

“Yeah, well, so was I, and look how well that ended up,” Danny said almost bitterly.

Jack tensed. “I’m not sure what you’re saying.”

The showman sighed. “What I’m saying is that you don’t know the effect you have on people. I was all set to settle for being your best friend, but against all the damn odds, here we are. And I can’t help but think that maybe it’s the same effect for everyone who wants you in their life,” he admitted.

Jack said nothing, because really, what was he supposed to say to that? Instead, he started flipping his cards in silence, watching them whiz through the air easily, catching them with the other hand. Sometimes, he missed how relaxing magic was – it completely took him away to another place, and when he first met Danny, it took them both to another place altogether. Now, he just thought that there were too many things he had to think about in their relationship: it could definitely a bit more magical if the fights dwindled to probably zero, but on hindsight, it probably can’t be any more perfect, fights and all. Still, though… what he wouldn’t give for just a few minutes of simplicity and easy escape like before.

Danny intercepted the card he made to catch with his other hand. He sighed, his eyes sad and his voice soft. “Look, I’m not saying I like it. Especially not at this point that we seem to have more issues than usual. But if you think you have to do it, then do it. Just please promise me one thing.” He gulped as Jack looked at him carefully. “Think of our better days when you talk to her, all right?”

The conversation that Jack and Lula finally had several days later was quite uneventful, at least from Jack’s perspective. They unofficially closed the romantic chapter of their lives together and had spent most of their time talking about the upcoming school year, and how Lula was thinking of enrolling in Octa, too (Jack thought how Danny would love being in the same campus as Lula, and the thought made him chuckle).

He chose to listen rather than talk, thinking that perhaps he wasn’t quite ready to share anything about Danny to Lula of all people – not now, not when everything was still quite fresh for both of them. But he was still extremely happy with her company, and he realized how much he missed having someone to talk to outside of his three daily companions. For once after a while, everything was calm in Jack’s world.

Then The Eye gave him their new set of instructions.

Merritt understood the concept of balance. He found that people were in a state of constantly needing and seeking out balance in their lives: that’s where mentalism came in for him. The second he finds one thing that will threaten to throw a person off balance is when said person becomes his to own. Balance was of extreme importance to every individual, and more so when it came to relationships.

From what he’s been seeing, their two friends seemed to have lost their balance in their relationship.

If their rising and heated voices (usually from Daniel) or the angry storming offs (usually by Jack) weren’t enough to indicate trouble in paradise, there were more signs to rely on. There was always the furtive and manic glances of one to the other when the other wasn’t looking (almost always from Daniel to Jack). Merritt also saw the knee jerk attempts to comfort the upset other before catching himself and withdrawing the helping hand before the other even sees it being offered (Jack to Daniel).

The mentalist zoomed in on two key issues between the two of them. The first issue was Daniel’s mounting frustration from the opening night fiasco finally getting to him. It can’t possibly have been any clearer how much he wanted to pick up where he and Jack left off, but the problem is how much embarrassment seemed to have dominated his desire for Jack, the perpetual gentleman who would not touch Daniel unless explicitly asked. Which Merritt strongly suspected Daniel would refuse to do in fear of another humiliating episode.

The second issue was that Jack had a secret. At first Merritt thought it had something to do with Lula, but after observing him the last few days, he realized it had something to do with the next task. He was determined to get to the bottom of it soon, thinking it concerned all of them, and he at least had to know what was happening. But whatever the secret was, it was creating even more tension between him and Daniel, and Merritt suspected that Daniel didn’t even know there was something hidden from him to begin with.

Time for him to get to work.

Henley had taken care of whisking Daniel away under the guise of needing to practice their duo act for their second show in May, leaving Merritt alone with Jack. The minute he was sure the escape artist and the showman were out, the mentalist pounced on the sleight.

“You received instructions from them, did you?”

Jack flinched, and Merritt knew he struck gold. “I’m not supposed to talk about it, Mer.” Like that ever stopped him.

“You were given a set of instructions that was just for you alone, so it’s something we’re all pretty familiar with, but with an angle only you would know about…” Merritt trailed off thoughtfully, remembering the last phase of the plans: there was something about a close encounter with the FBI, and a fake death that was clearly Jack. But what could bother Jack so much if it was—

_Click._

Merritt looked at Jack, whose brown eyes were wide and scared. “Your fake death should look like it went wrong and ended up being a real death to us,” the mentalist supplied. “How long, Jack-o?”

Jack hung his head, closing his eyes as though relieved to be free of the burden he carried alone. “Three months.”

Merritt understood what three months meant. Three months was for Jack to focus on operationalizing the plan from behind-the-scenes, being their eye of sorts, until their task was completed. Three months was to make sure that their showman was on point and would carry out the plan flawlessly, that their showman would not have anything more to fear losing. Three months to focus entirely on their work, and not on each other.

_Wow, The Eye is a fucking bitch._

“You can’t tell Danny or Henley, Mer,” Jack said. “They can’t know. Hell, you weren’t supposed to know.”

Merritt shrugged. “Funny how those idiots could think they could keep something from me.”

Jack chuckled darkly. “I wondered the same thing.”

“And speaking of idiots who could think they could keep something from me, tell me more about what didn’t happen during opening night, Jackie boy,” the mentalist said aggressively, making the sleight splutter.

“Jesus, Merritt—“

Merritt shook his head. “Look, I definitely don’t want to know anything remotely intimate about either you or Daniel. But I have two points, Jack: one is, you guys have been going nutty ever since opening night, and neither of you have made your move, and it’s wearing everyone down. Which brings me to point number two: you just told me you don’t have a lot of time until you fake a real death meant to be fake and we don’t see you until after three months, so I suggest you stop wasting precious time and tap that boy, pronto. That’s just me, though.”

The rest of the day was spent mostly in amiable companionship between the two, and Danny and Henley returned to the apartment towards the end of the day to their laughing partners throwing cards all around the place (Jack doing so successfully, Merritt abysmally).

Danny felt a twinge of sadness seeing the happy smile on Jack’s face, knowing that he has been failing to be the one to put it on that face recently. But when his boyfriend looked at him, the smile grew even wider and his brown eyes lit up, and Danny marveled in the next second how he could have possibly done that, and what good he did in his life to deserve that. He cocked his head to the side, observing Jack, who shook his head and tossed aside his pile of cards, walking briskly to where Danny stood.

“Jack?” he said questioningly.

Jack shook his head of brown hair and brought him in closer, holding him by the waist. “I’m done waiting,” he said simply before his lips covered Danny’s own, gently at first, but rising in cadence and heat as the seconds passed. “I want you and I’m having you now, if you let me, J. Daniel Atlas.”

“ _Yes,_ ” Danny gasped immediately. “ _Yes, yes, yes._ ”

It was like all barriers had to be torn down between them the second Danny said yes. Holding each other close, they pushed themselves into a room, and they no longer cared whose room it was. The last few weeks of frustration were flowing out, like venom extracted from their systems, leaving their bodies as quickly as their clothes were shed off.

Danny found himself thrown into the bed, and before he could even react, his arms were pinned on either side as Jack slid directly on top of him, naked bodies aligned, the tips of their noses touching.

Jack’s eyes were soft as he asked, “Is this okay?”

Danny nodded. “ _Please, Jack,_ ” he begged.

They took the time to explore each contour and angle of their bodies with their hands and their lips. Danny’s senses were on overload, unable to understand why Jack – perfect, wonderful Jack – was with him, right here and now. Why Jack was holding him so tenderly, so lovingly like he was the most fragile gem in the world. Why Jack breathed in his scent with relish, like he was the most intoxicating smell in the world. Why Jack’s brown eyes were blown wide with desire and – he didn’t want to think about it just now – when he pulled away to meet Danny’s awed gaze.

What had he done so right in his previous lives that he was rewarded with this sort of perfection right now, perfection that couldn’t possibly be topped?

“I love you, Daniel Atlas,” Jack exhaled earnestly, baring his soul through his eyes.

Danny hated being wrong, but he was never happier to be wrong now about it: Jack just topped his own perfection. He smiled up at Jack, holding him by the back of the head. “Prove it,” he challenged.

Jack didn’t need telling twice, and for the first time in Danny’s life, he thought he could define exactly what bliss was.

Almost half an hour later, they lay on their backs and next to each other, both looking at the ceiling with foolish grins on their faces. Jack chuckled and turned his head to his left to look at his boyfriend, who was equally delirious.

“All you had to do was say something, you know,” he said in jest.

Danny snorted. “And risk another panic attack?”

Jack’s eyebrows wagged as he took Danny’s hand. “I could have calmed you down… somehow.”

Blue eyes rolled to the high heavens. “I’m sure you could have.”

A chuckle from Jack, and companionable silence filled the room for the next few minutes. Jack’s hand was warm in his, and it seemed to fit so well, almost as though it was always supposed to be there. The corners of Danny’s lips turned upward in a smile as he turned to look at Jack. “Hey, Jack?”

“Mmm?”

“I love you, too.”

Jack smiled. “Damn straight you do.”

*

Dylan had a plan, and he had to make sure he followed through. He needed to be extra careful: with The Horsemen on their guard, and now with Thaddeus Bradley sticking his fingers in the pie, he knew one wrong move could make it all fall apart. Failure was not an option for him: he had come too far for this to not work, and for him to not have The Horsemen exactly where he wanted them.

Thaddeus was devious and cunning, and he happened to know how exactly magic worked. He gained a massive online following just dissecting everything that happened last January, and the FBI was forced to accept that even knowing now how it possibly could have happened, they really had no hold on The Horsemen. They needed a new attack plan, and Dylan’s superiors had brought him in countless planning sessions to prepare for the upcoming second act in May.

He didn’t know what Thaddeus Bradley wanted out of it – he didn’t stand to make so much with his online commentaries, and rumor even has it that the older man in his thirties was personally requested by Arthur Tressler himself to back off and not “sully his investments” for a hefty six-digit price, which he had reportedly declined. He had recommended having someone from the team watch Thaddeus Bradley, not least of all because he was already probably in Arthur Tressler’s black list.

Dylan’s mouth was set in a rigid line as he pored over the stolen photographs of The Four Horsemen, noting even in mere photographs how the mentalist looked at the escape artist in much the same way Atlas gazed at Jack Wilder.

It would do for them to watch their backs and keep something up their sleeves.


	11. May 2008: This Surely Is A Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny apparently didn’t care how long they stood there, or how many catcalls and cheers suddenly erupted in the auditorium. In fact, had they not heard Agent Rhodes’ cry of “FREEZE!” and the sudden cheers of the previously hypnotized mob, they probably could have stayed there forever, even with the select audience members tacking the quarterback. Jack certainly knows he would have liked to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. I’m sorry.
> 
> I’ve received encouragement in the last months, and I’m honestly grateful for each like, follow, and comment on the story. I will never abandon this ship, but with a doubled workload and an engagement to the man of my dreams, Jack and Danny had to take a backseat for a while.
> 
> I’m back, and as you can see in this chapter, it’s largely inspired by the lovely song “Sex and Candy”. <3 Advanced apologies for anything that might be out of place, as I’m trying to regain my grasp on our lovely boys and their supporting cast. This is what a six-month hiatus does. Please be patient with me as I try to regain my bearings with the ship we are all sailing.
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.

“That’s quite a song.”

“Hmm?”

“The song. It’s… it’s cool.”

“Yeah, isn’t it?”

Danny raised his eyebrows. “Sex and Candy, I assume is the title?”

“Oh, what gave it away?” Jack said teasingly.

“You’ve had that song on repeat for the last two hours,” Danny observed, not looking up from the book he read, making sure he didn’t give away so much of what exactly the said song made him feel at the moment. “Any particular reason why?”

Jack, hunched over a small diagram while idly flipping his cards from across the room, paused before he shrugged. “I didn’t notice, sorry. It’s pretty catchy. I’ll turn it down,” came the passive reply.

Without waiting for Danny’s response, Jack lowered the speaker’s volume, the song suddenly barely audible. Silence fell on the pair, the sleight once more focused on the diagram, while the showman shot a furtive and concerned glance at his boyfriend.

Danny ran through the brief exchange in his mind, wondering where his cues had gone wrong. Henley had all these ridiculous magazines in her room, and they all said the same thing: be coy, drop hints, and he’ll go crazy. Well, it wasn’t happening right now. He fidgeted slightly in his seat, wondering what to say, or if he should even say anything at all, and what Jack would—

“Danny, I can hear you thinking again. Stop that and just spit it out,” Jack deadpanned, but his lips were turned upward as he continued to rearrange the model before him.

“No,” Danny protested, his voice breaking slightly. He cleared his throat. “I meant, uh, no, I’m not… I guess I just… the song’s pretty suggestive, and I was thinking if you wanted to… well…”

Jack’s head snapped up, his shit-eating grin wide, and all attention on Danny now. “Are you telling me to—Danny, what exactly are you trying to tell me?” His thick eyebrows wagged as he stood up and started walking to Danny. “Was that a world-famous J. Daniel Atlas seduction technique we just ran through?”

There was no mistaking the incredible blush that colored Danny’s face as he watched Jack predatorily stride toward him. His voice was barely more than a whisper. “You know exactly what I’m trying to tell you, Jack.”

Jack shook his head playfully. “We aren’t having that, Danny. You need to tell me what you want. We ain’t got time for things that aren’t clear between us.”

The words barely escaped him when he stopped right in front of Danny, looking down at his boyfriend, their impact hitting home. It was just a little more than a month to the next show, the show that would signal the fake-real-fake death that only he and Merritt knew about. Three months of silence, of staying away, of pulling the collegiate scams apart from the inside.

Three months of being apart.

Danny must have sensed a change in Jack’s demeanor, because he sat up straight and held Jack by the wrists. “Hey, you drifted off again. Where do you keep going that I can’t follow, Wilder?” Danny said teasingly, but concern was evident in his blue eyes.

The sleight chuckled, shaking his head. Sometimes, Danny was far too perceptive for his liking – especially during these times. He held the sides of Danny’s face, looking down at the face he loved the most in the world, wondering what he possible did right to see that same face looking back up at him like he was the only light at the end of the pitch-black tunnel.

“I don’t remember a time without you, you know that?” Jack said gently.

Danny smiled slightly. “Someone’s a touch sentimental today.” When Jack said nothing in response, Danny sobered and nodded. “Well, I don’t want to know a time without you.”

Jack gulped, trying to cover up his anxiety with a smile. “Your heart will take it, lover boy,” he said in jest as he bent down to kiss Danny on the lips. He closed his eyes, savoring the feel and the taste of his boyfriend’s lips, the sweet warmth of his breath mixing with his own, the light stubbles he detected on his otherwise smooth face. It lasted about a minute before he pulled away and righted Danny’s position.

Electricity crackled in Danny’s blue eyes as he opened them and shook his head. “No. It can’t. It won’t.”

Before Jack could think of a response to Danny’s statement, the front door opened, Henley and Merritt bounding in to the apartment excitedly. Jack fluidly took a step back as he raised a hand in greeting.

“Hey guys,” Henley said hurriedly. “We come bearing news from the man himself.”

Danny suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. “Could you be more specific, Hen?”

“Tressler, asswipe,” Merritt supplied as he took a seat across the showman, taking off his hat. “He’s doubled the audience size for his charity show, so he said, and I quote, ‘You twats better not fuck me up’. Jokingly, of course.” His impersonation of the older man was quite uncanny.

“But obviously with a warning. I think he meant it,” Henley said, her eyes crackling with delight. “I wonder how it is that people seem to know exactly what’s coming to them, but still deny it? And no, that was rhetorical, Mer, I don’t want to hear your psychobabble,” she finished exasperatedly as Merritt opened his mouth, no doubt to explain what went on in the recesses of the average human mind.

“Hey, can’t a man randomly say how beautiful a woman is?” Merritt said in mock-hurt.

“Probably not randomly, unless he wants a punch to the face,” Danny said helpfully.

Merritt flipped him off.

*

The Horsemen were set to perform for Arthur Tressler’s charity show in a week. The insurance magnate’s way of keeping up pretenses, Dylan assumed, and a way to make another quick buck, but that wasn’t what he was after. He had his eye on the prize, and to get it, he knew he had to outsmart all the players on the board now – the Horsemen, Tressler, Bradley, even his colleagues in the FBI. No one could get in the way of his mission.

“Agent Rhodes?” came a softly accented voice which had become all too familiar in the last weeks.

No one.

“Ms. Dray,” he said cordially, gesturing to a seat in front of his table. “Please.”

“Thank you.” The Frenchwoman took a seat carefully, carefully smoothing the minute creases on her dress. She did not at all seem nervous about this meeting. Against himself, Dylan found that he quite liked it. When Dylan said nothing, she shrugged and raised an eyebrow. “Agent Rhodes…?”

The agent shook his head slightly. “Sorry. Train of thought.”

“Must be quite a ride,” Alma said with a small smile.

He gave a lopsided grin. “I’ve had better rides.”

She choked back a laugh, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. “I’m sure you have, Agent.”

He smiled lightly, gesturing to the platter in front of them. “I hope you don’t mind, I ordered ahead. Please.”

They spent the next few minutes buttering their toasts and sipping coffee, chit chatting idly about the weather, school curricula, and the upcoming concert that everyone seemed to want to sell body parts for. It quickly turned into a regaling of some of the strangest personalities that Dylan had handled in his few years in the force. The young woman’s laughter made Dylan feel lighter, somehow, and he surprised himself at how easy it was to spend time with her and – more importantly – to enjoy the time with anyone at all. It was a refreshing first for him.

Too soon, though, they had lapsed into silence that signaled the start of business. Alma cleared her throat. “You said you wanted to talk, sir. Is this about the four?”

“Just Dylan, please, Ms. Dray. And yes, this is about the Horsemen.”

She looked a little resigned and – for some reason – off-put. “I don’t know what to tell you, Dylan, but I’m as honest as I possibly can be when I say that they aren’t criminals.”

“Ms. Dray, they robbed a bank,” Dylan countered. “I would hardly call that non-criminal.”

“No one’s proven that, no? And… it’s just Alma, Agent Rhodes.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, I know they’re your friends. And I know you think that they’re innocent. I’m not going to debate the point with you now, but I am collecting information and proof that they may have at least had something to do with this,” he said as gently as he could. “So anything you say could either help them, or help me, or maybe even help us both.”

Her grey eyes were steely as she looked at him. “What exactly can I tell you that you don’t already know?”

He slid a photograph over to her, the very same photo he was pondering on weeks ago, which showed Daniel Atlas gazing rather fixatedly at Jack Wilder. She glanced at the photo, then back at him, unimpressed. “That’s Daniel and Jack. What’s special about this photo, Dylan?”

“You tell me,” Dylan pressed. “How long has this—“ He gestured between the image of Jack and Daniel, “—been going on?”

“If you’re talking about their relationship, I’m not sure how it concerns you, sir, with all due respect.” 

“It concerns me plenty,” he said heatedly. “Like how they could possibly want to do something criminal that can possibly keep them in separate holding cells for the rest of their lives, if they were together. I just want to understand.”

She shook her head. “If that’s what you want, I’m not sure this is the right way to do it.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, Alma, the Horsemen’s second show is coming up in a week or so. I just know that something big will happen there, I promise you. But I want to make sense of it. Please, help me make sense of this. Of them.”

Alma shook her head and stood up. “I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I agreed to come. I suppose I was hoping you—but never mind. Please, allow me to leave. I won’t be the one that would be quoted with the wrong things that put my friends in harm’s way.” Her eyes were sad as she slid her bag over her shoulder. “Goodbye, Agent Rhodes. Thank you for the coffee.” Without another word, she was gone.

*

“Four days.”

“Hmm?”

“You’ve been humming that same song for four days straight,” Danny explained.

Jack groaned. “Crap, I’m sorry.”

The showman shook his head. “No, it’s… it’s cool.”

The sleight rolled his eyes in jest as he put his arms around Danny’s neck. “Oh, Romeo, such sweet words you have!”

“You know you sounded like Little Red Riding Hood,” the blonde-haired boy said with a hint of a smile.

“Huh?”

“Such big eyes you have—“ A yelp came from Danny as Jack’s hand slid down to his butt for a squeeze.

“And such a nice butt you have,” the brown-haired boy said peevishly.

“Can you two please not have cute foreplay ten minutes before we go onstage? It really makes me jealous,” Merritt moaned, earning a slap from Henley.

“Well, the famous Horsemen,” came a deep voice from the door. The tall figure of Thaddeus Bradley surveyed them with a small smile, eyeing Jack’s arms around Danny’s neck and Henley’s legs sprawled across the couch on top of Merritt’s own. “I hadn’t expected you to be this… close. I’m sorry, where are my manners? I’m Thaddeus Bradley. I just wanted to wish you luck on your show tonight.”

“Well, Mr. Bradley, wish we could say the same for you, but since you’re out to ruin us… nah,” Jack quipped, not removing his arms from around Danny, who did not at all seem to mind this arrangement.

“I’m glad you’ve accepted that, Mr. Wilder,” Bradley said smoothly.

Henley scoffed. “Well, that’s not going to happen.”

“Yeah? Well, I know all about you, Horsemen. Looking at being taken in by The Eye, are you?” On seeing the glances the four shared, Bradley plowed on. “Oh, yes, I know all about The Eye. It’s a really nice place, or so I’m told. Lots of star shine and moonbeams, I’ve heard.”

“Look, man, we’re just kids who want to do magic. I don’t know why you want to see us mess up,” Jack said, finally letting go of Danny and walking towards Bradley, stopped only when Danny held on to his fingertips. “But I’m telling you, maybe you should just back off, man.”

“No can do,” Bradley said cheerfully. “You started all this, Horsemen, there’s no turning back now for you and me. I’ll be with you all the way until the end of the line – right up until you’re walking down a crowd in handcuffs you can’t get out of. Just… enjoy the show.”

“Sure, sure,” Merritt said quickly, stepping up and gazing at Bradley. “Big talk coming from a little boy who dreams of being a magician, being the best actually, and realizing that… hmm… what is this… oh! He realizes that he’s a bit good, sure, but nowhere near enough to be among the best, and well… decides to make a career out of not being a real star. You enjoy the show, too, Mr. Bradley,” Merritt finished with a cheeky grin.

Bradley’s eyes narrowed, but Danny couldn’t resist coming up to him and flashing his trusty deck of cards. “Pick one, Mr. Bradley,” he challenged.

Bradley smirked. “You’ll put it up your sleeve.”

“Will I?” Danny looked inside his sleeves and pockets for good measure before dramatically pointing at Bradley’s own sleeve, much too loose and easy for Jack to have placed the offending card with the words “SUCK IT”. “Maybe it’s in yours, Thaddeus.”

Bradley’s eyes were dead and flat as he looked at the card and back at the Horsemen. There was no trace of a smile on his face now. “Break a leg,” he said before finally exiting.

“Well, you break something too!” Merritt said cheerfully.

*

Jack knew exactly how beautiful Daniel Atlas was – he’d like to think he knew it best, as Danny was the first and last thing he held in his arms almost every day for the past few glorious months. Their first time had broken a dam between them, and now, Jack realized he would never get enough of the mighty J. Daniel Atlas, whether he was his lover on soft sheets and cold hard floors (Jack felt himself choking when he remembered that infamous Night of No Beds), or whether he was the Lover of the tarot up onstage, beautifully leading the Hermit, the Priestess, and Death into the great unknown that was their audience.

Tonight was different.

Tonight, Danny wasn’t just beautiful.

He was perfect.

They all knew exactly where the show was going – not one bit of it was left unsynchronized or uncoordinated. Jack watched from backstage as Merritt did a mass hypnosis on a dozen volunteers, and as Henley and Danny did their paired performance. They seemed to fit each other like a glove, and Jack couldn’t help but be a little jealous at how well they seemed to know each other, and how well they synced onstage.

“Yeah, I think that too sometimes,” Merritt said next to him.

Jack scoffed. “Shut up, Mer.”

“I know I’m good, thank you,” Merritt deadpanned. He cleared his throat. “Still no plans of telling him, huh?”

“It’s bad enough you know, Mer, let’s keep it at that,” he replied, not taking his eyes off Danny.

“He thinks something’s wrong, you know. Pretty worried, too. You know how I know?”

“How?”

“He actually asked me.”

“What?”

“Exactly my thought. So, Jack-o, you have to try harder if you need to keep it from him.”

Jack gulped, heart skipping a beat as his eyes connected with Danny’s for a full three seconds. “I know.”

He and Merritt were called onstage for the final act, and Jack immediately set aside the thoughts that bothered him to rejoin the two onstage. It was time to con the ultimate conman.

Barely ten minutes later, it was an ultimate high when Jack saw the thunderstruck and furious face of their benefactor, now currently chained to the stage he had set up for them. He knew that from hereon, his life would be on hold, but as long as his family was safe and was under the protection of The Eye as promised, he could deal with it.

Danny was sprinting to Jack, his eyes positively blazing. Something stirred in Jack, but he gulped it down and gave his boyfriend a smirk, where he was waiting to greet him with a friendly fist bump. Danny wouldn’t have it, though: he swatted Jack’s fist aside and swept him up in his arms in a searing kiss, right in front of the watching audience. Jack smiled under the forceful lips, barely registering the sudden frenzy and flashing lights that filled the small hall: he was only aware of the lips that completely encompassed his as he clutched onto his rope tightly – he was deliriously sure he was going to float away if he didn’t hold on.

Danny apparently didn’t care how long they stood there, or how many catcalls and cheers suddenly erupted in the auditorium. In fact, had they not heard Agent Rhodes’ cry of “FREEZE!” and the sudden cheers of the previously hypnotized mob, they probably could have stayed there forever, even with the select audience members tacking the quarterback. Jack certainly knows he would have liked to.

“We should…” Jack mumbled.

“Mmm.”

“Rhodes,” he rumbled warningly.

An angry growl vibrated in the showman’s throat. “Can you not say anyone else’s name like that?”

Jack smiled. “Atlas,” he said in the same voice. Danny whimpered as he took a painful step back, looking at Jack with wide eyes. “Come on.”

With some hesitation, Danny broke away and grabbed his own rope, winking at Jack as they were lifted into the air into their escape.

“You two will be the death of us, you know that?” Merritt cried as they sprinted onto the busy Mardi Gras scene, half-exasperated, but failing to keep a grin from his face.

“I know you two are the cutest thing since—I don’t know what—but do try to keep it in both your pants, will you?” Henley screamed as they rounded an alleyway. Her red hair whipped quickly as she looked behind them. “Rhodes is out. We have to break now. See you where we see you, and for God’s sake, don’t get killed, or worse—caught!”

Danny shook his head as he continued to run. “So nice to know she cares so much about our safety,” he drawled, earning a laugh from Jack.

They rounded another corner to catch their breath for a few seconds: the last part of the plan was pretty risky, even for Jack’s standards, but the effect of failure was a bigger risk for him, one he wasn’t willing to accept.

Danny seemed to know what was going on in his mind, and the other man spun him by the shoulders to place a soft kiss on his lips, one that was completely unlike the one they shared onstage.

God, he was going to miss this, even if it was only for a while. Or so Jack has been telling himself repeatedly.

“I’ll be okay. You’ve got my back, right?” Danny asked in an uncharacteristically gentle voice.

Jack’s eyes brightened as he smiled back. “Always.”

*

They got away. Of course they got away.

Bradley smiled as he thought of tonight’s footage: it would easily spell at least a half million for him, and not just because of the debunking. There was that adventurous heist they pulled on one of the richest moguls in the country, the exciting police goose-chase that followed, an most of all, there was that not-so subtle interaction between J. Daniel Atlas and Jack Wilder onstage.

After all, everyone loved a good romance, more so a heated and passionate one between the two so-called leads of this little act. His assistant had reported that the pair had “broken the internet” in just under two hours: #AtlastJack was all people could seem to talk about, and the frenzy was high across the country.

“Mr. Bradley?”

It was suited muscle, obviously one of Tressler’s. He slowed down his gait and raised a questioning eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Mr. Tressler would like you to join him for a drink.”

The disgraced mogul looked up at him, obviously having already downed several shots prior to this meeting. “What is your role with them?”

Direct. So that’s how this discussion was going to be. He decided to have a little fun with it. “Role?” Bradley responded innocently.

“Yes. You seem to know everything about them – what they’re going to do, where they’re going to be.” There was a healthy amount of suspicion coating Tressler’s voice as he looked at Bradley with narrowed eyes.

Bradley smiled, trying to inject sympathy in his voice as he said, “If it makes you feel any better, this wasn’t about you.”

The older man chuckled darkly. “Please tell me why this wasn’t about me.”

“This is a magic trick, Mr. Tressler, one played out on a global scale!” Bradley explained with a smile. “You, sir, are the abracadabra, the distraction, while they set up the real trick.”

“I was a 140 million dollar distraction?” He was spewing venom with the last word. “You know, Mr. Bradley—“

“You can destroy me, yes, I know, Mr. Tressler,” the other man interrupted patiently. “But you won’t destroy me, any more than you will destroy the Horsemen. What will come after this will truly impress, Mr. Tressler, so I suggest you sit back and enjoy the front-row seat. You paid quite a lot of good money for it.”

Bradley made to stand and walk away, when Tressler called out, “Whatever you stand to make, Mr. Bradley, I’ll double it.”

He turned to look back at Tressler. “I’m listening,” he said carefully.

“I’ll double it,” Tressler repeated. “If you expose them now, and destroy them.”

“And how, do you propose, should I destroy the Horsemen, Mr. Tressler?” Bradley countered, though he knew full well where he could start and – effectively – end.

“Well,” Tressler said in mock-thought as he knocked back another shot glass. “I’ve been told it’s good to start with the heart of it all.” In that moment, Bradley fully appreciated just how ruthless Arthur Tressler truly was.

“I stand to make five million,” he responded.

Tressler watched him with dangerous eyes. “Am I flinching?”

Bradley shook his head quietly, a smile on his face. “No, you’re not,” he acknowledged softly.


	12. June 2008: The Heart of The Showman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the longest time, they were quiet. Neither of them was willing to break the silence, both for completely different reasons. It was a shame, Danny thought bitterly, that neither of them were brave enough to ask that question that hung in the air. Cowards, that’s what they were. Just two cowards who fancied themselves in love with the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES: I learned that posting chapters truly does wonders for writer’s block. So, right after Chapter 11 comes Chapter 12, and possibly a cute interlude I’ve been sitting on since October of last year.
> 
> For reasons that I will explain in another chapter, I’m afraid I might have to borrow large portions from my other story, ‘Toska’ for some scenes here. For those familiar with that story, yes, that time has come.
> 
> Enough said. I hope to still see you guys in the next chapter/s!
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended. I really am just a hopeless fan girl refreshing my feed for more stories about Lover's Death and Hermit+Priestess (daily, twice a day, might I add).
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.

Two weeks after the infamous heist, one that national media had covered and sensationalized to no end, the high of the Horsemen’s success was settling, giving rise to the reality that they now had to face head-on.

They were all expelled from Octa, of course. It was something that Merritt and Henley had shrugged over, and something he knew would have some damage on his and his parents’ basic relationship. They were all prepared for this, but Danny didn’t realize how hard it would hit him until he saw Jack watching the statement of the Board of Directors on national television with unseeing eyes. The FBI was coming for them, and they didn’t have a lot of time before they had to implement yet another crazy and twisted plan.

Despite the fact that he knew they didn’t have all the time in the world, Danny plopped down on the thin mattress next to the sleight.

“You’re torturing yourself,” Danny said in a clipped tone. “You knew what we were getting into.” To another person, it would sound like Danny was being his usual bossy and uncaring self, but Jack wasn’t just another person. He knew Daniel Atlas well enough to know that the words were worry, concern, and sadness rolled into one.

His boyfriend’s words comforted him a little, and he leaned into Danny’s warmth just a little bit more. “I know that, Danny.”

“Your parents and Lara know about this,” the showman continued.

Jack nodded. “Yeah, they do.” _It’s not that._

“And… Lula?” Her name hung as a question in the air, not completely answered even after all this time. _Is that it?_

Jack sighed. “Danny, don’t start, please. I didn’t tell her.” _Please understand – it’s all about you._

“Oh,” Danny blinked. “Okay.” _So what’s wrong?_

The brown-haired man’s chocolate gaze met his ocean eyes. Danny saw the depth of his fear, and – for some reason – how _alone_ Jack felt now. He didn’t understand why he would feel that way, he must be wrong, he never gave Jack any reason to feel alone—

“What’s next, Danny?” _Where do we go from here?_

A shrug. “Our orders run out after the show. I suppose we figure it out then.” _Nowhere without you._

“I can’t stop thinking about it.” _I can’t stop thinking about us._

“There’s a plan, right?” _Why can’t you stop worrying?_

“I hate not knowing.” _I hate not knowing if I can do it without you._

“So do I.” _I hate not knowing why you’re so worried about us._

“Danny?” _Will you just hold me and make it simple?_

“Yes?” _Do you really want me to?_

_“Yes.” Yes._

Daniel Atlas would swear up and down, with all cockiness and confidence, that he knew every part of Jack Wilder better than he knew his own.

He knew that Jack would rumble a deep chuckle when he placed feather kisses on his inner thigh and calf, that Jack would giggle uncontrollably when he stroked the flat contours of his abdomen with his deft and sure fingers, that Jack would cry out his name on repeat when he would take Danny into the sweet moment of temporary oblivion.

Danny had a mental picture of Jack’s moles, and how they mapped out the entire New York if he were to trace it with a pen against the tan skin; he was well-acquainted with Jack’s lips, which were soft between room temperature and a light summer heat, but chapped horribly beyond the said bounds.

He knew that keeping Jack full was the key to an easier relationship: a hungry Jack Wilder was essentially something he simply didn’t want to put up with, not if he could help it. He knew what comedies made Jack truly laugh, what movies made him mad, what music made him melancholy, what color would change his mood on a bad day.

He had mapped out his partner’s every reaction, every craving, every gasp, and he prided himself on being the one person that knew how to make Jack Wilder happy. So now, as Danny lay on the bed next to Jack, who had his back turned on him, he was completely stumped.

Stumped, because he knows he did everything right, and Jack as usual did everything perfectly: they had once more claimed each other so smoothly, so perfectly – in fact, more than he ever remembered. To say that he was confused was an understatement: he didn’t know what sent the sleight into a spiral of silence as soon as he pulled out, turning his back on Danny without a word.

For the longest time, they were quiet. Neither of them was willing to break the silence, both for completely different reasons. It was a shame, Danny thought bitterly, that neither of them were brave enough to ask that question that hung in the air. Cowards, that’s what they were. Just two cowards who fancied themselves in love with the other.

Hell, he often thought that maybe it was just him, after all.

“Jack?” he said tentatively, hating the fact that he was walking on ice now.

Jack was completely still, unresponsive and uncharacteristically quiet.

Danny felt his heart, just floating into air a few moments ago, catapulting back down on the ground like falling lead. “I know something’s wrong. Please… talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong. What’s wrong?” There. He’s asked the question – the dreaded question, the answer of which he wasn’t sure he would survive.

Silence.

“Look, I know it’s been crazy, and imperfect, and basically shitty, but I’ve got your back. And you’ve got mine, right? It’ll be better after this, I swear,” Danny prattled on nervously. “I just need to… I need to know that you and I are okay. Whatever it is you’re going through, you don’t have to tell me. But please… don’t push me away, Jack. Can you do that?”

More silence.

“You…” His blue eyes hardened as he sat up, pulling on his shirt. Suddenly, he was no longer Danny, but J. Daniel Atlas, the Showman, the leader of the Horsemen. “You know what? Screw this. Get your act together. You need to be out in ten minutes. They’re coming. Don’t fuck this up.”

Still, Jack said nothing.

Danny blinked furiously as he strode to the door as quickly as possible, slamming it almightily behind him.

Jack let out a quiet sob the second Danny left the room, as he felt the heart of the showman being crushed with his own in his silence.

*

It was almost an hour later that Jack joined them, and when he did, Merritt immediately noticed that a dam had broken loose in their resident sleight’s façade.

His eyes shone with fear and grief as he glanced at Danny, who was stoically looking out the window for any signs of the FBI, and there was a nervous energy in him as he paced the room, throwing cards and muttering to himself. He looked at the showman, the fucking selfish scumbag who still didn’t move after long minutes, and shook his head as he stood up to halt Jack by the shoulders.

“Jack-o,” he said sternly and calmly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Danny cast a watchful glance at them. “Do I have to hypnotize you to calm you down?”

“Merritt, I…” Jack gulped, his eyes shining with unshed tears. “I don’t think I can—“

“You can and you will,” Merritt said steadily. “You’ve got our backs all the time. Now, Henley and I have yours.” He made sure he was pointed with the mention of Henley’s name, and got the desired reaction: Danny bristled angrily, standing up very suddenly.

The mentalist turned to the showman and held up a hand. “Asswipe, if you’re going to assert your princess status to anyone in this room, most of all to Jack, think twice before I convince you it would be a good idea to dance like a monkey straight into the FBI’s car.”

Jack looked at Danny straight in the eye, gently pushing Merritt aside and closing the distance between them. There were no fervent kisses and conciliatory embraces that fixed them; there was only a pair of wracked blue eyes trying to make mad sense of what was happening beneath the soft brown gaze, and as the seconds ticked by, the wild waves of the ocean subsided into the quiet lull against the beautiful shore.

With a broken voice, the showman broke the silence. “I… I’m not…”

Jack shook his head fiercely. “No. That’s enough. You’re… you’re more than enough,” he said angrily. “You’re not going anywhere, Atlas.” It struck a chord inside Jack as he remembered the very words he had used on Danny all those nights ago, after the heat of the moment that brought them together, that made them stand exactly where they were.

He thought, at the back of his mind, how strange it was that he would use those words at this moment again. “Danny, please. You’re not going anywhere,” he repeated softly, surprised at how much he didn’t mind begging. “You… you have to be okay. We have to be okay. Please.”

Long-fingered hands found their way on either side of Jack’s face, and for just a little while, the cold control that Daniel Atlas was well-known for surfaced, but directed in a very piercing way at one Jack Wilder.

“You will fucking outrun those guys, and we will fucking outsmart them again and again until this is all over,” Danny said methodically. “And when we do, you and I will fucking break down in laughter, and realize that all this was a fucking joke, and there will be nothing left but you and I in this funny world, Jack Wilder. I told you once and I’ll say it again and again until you learn your damn lesson: I have wanted to be with you, Jack Wilder, from the moment I saw you. I will never learn to let you go under no circumstance whatsoever, and I don’t plan to.”

Jack bit his lip, trying not to think about the words that Danny was freely spewing, but Danny wasn’t done. “I will say it again, and I don’t care how much more of me you can take, but I don’t plan on ever letting you go, and nothing as petty as a criminal record, a failed show, and all the goddamned continents will keep me from wanting to be with you.” The showman took a deep, calming breath, as he looked at Jack with calmer blue eyes, his mouth twitching into a smile. “So will you please stop being a drama queen and just get on with the show?”

The sleight barked out a laugh, clutching the sides of Danny’s face as he bumped their foreheads together. “Oh, you mad magician, I love you,” he said softly.

“Guys, I’m sorry to interrupt, but…” Henley cut in with a note of alarm. “They’re here.”

Pandemonium erupted in the flat, and instantly, they transformed into The Lovers, The Hermit, The High Priestess, and Death – and they had a job to do. There were no lingering goodbyes, or in fact no indication whatsoever that there had only been fear and grief just moments before.

Jack was on auto-pilot, alone in the flat mere minutes later, playing the part he was tasked to play, and he felt nothing but a deep sense of purpose and precision as he laid out everything that was asked of him. From his nook in the room, he saw Agents Rhodes and Fuller enter with their handguns in tow.

He would chalk it up much later to pure adrenaline – he never remembered thinking so clearly and precisely until that second Rhodes spotted him. He released all his instincts into dodging each bullet and punch that the agent had thrown him, practically playing the bumbling agent like a harp, feeling his legs celebrate as they pounded into the floor, giving him flight all the way to the entrance door, right into the federal car so carelessly waiting for him.

“Showtime,” he whispered as the car roared to life.

*

Henley’s heart leaped as she saw the black federal car come up through her rearview mirror.

Jack was playing his role perfectly, and now the rest was up to the three of them: she could only thank the high heavens that the worst was over, and they could carry on with the plan, and she, Merritt, Danny, and Jack could get on with the other matters of their lives that needed serious consideration.

She wasn’t due until the last part of the plan, and she saw that Danny’s cab had taken its position to shield Jack from the mad car following him. Now, it was up to Merritt.

She stole a glance at Merritt, who had come up next to her car and had paled visibly. She instantly felt alarm bells go off as he closed his eyes as he stalled for just a split second. No one would have noticed, but she knew him more than anyone on this planet, and he fucking stalled and…

Oh God.

Jack.

No one else heard the despairing scream that came from inside her car as the black car gave an almighty screech, turning several times on the open road before bursting into flames.

The plan was perfectly put in place, and it took all of her willpower to make sure that she executed it to the dot despite what she just saw. She had to get to their rendezvous point first, followed by Merritt and… and… Danny would come last, much later, to make sure none of them rose suspicion.

Merritt’s van was pulling up, noticeably without Jack’s car, and the fury broke out inside her again. The second he stepped out of his van, she ran to him and slapped him across the face with all her might.

“YOU KILLED HIM!” she screeched.

“Hen—“

“I saw you, goddamnit, you stalled and you killed him!” she wept, pounding him on the chest.

The pain in Merritt’s eyes was palpable. “Henley, please listen to—“

“You goddamn murderer, and I’m supposed to love you—“

“HE’S ALIVE!” Merritt said, his eyes mad. “He’s alive but he has to be gone for three months and Atlas can’t know that he’s alive until after three months, Henley! I’ve known for months that this was the real plan and I’ve had to fucking shut up and now I’m the fucking murderer, but I…” His voice broke. “If it means losing you, then that’s the truth. I can’t… lose you.” The words sounded bitter coming from Merritt.

Henley said nothing for a long time, before she finally gasped and fell to her knees. “Mer, it’s… it’s crazy. I… How?”

“The switch happened. Jack took the car and drove off to God-knows-where a few streets back. I stalled because it only sank into me what was going to happen,” Merritt said quietly. “I wasn’t supposed to know, Hen. No one was supposed to know. But I figured it out.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense – why?”

“Atlas,” the mentalist responded. “The Eye… needs him to be their cold machine until the show.”

Her brown eyes went wide, and she shook her head fervently. “Oh my God, no, Merritt, that’s not what’s going to happen, believe me,” she said urgently, panic seizing her. “Danny won’t… he won’t… he can’t take this, you have to understand. This will kill him. Yes, he’ll get the job done, but… he won’t make it after this.”

Merritt’s shoulders sagged in response. “Well, love, I think that’s what we’re going to be here for. At least until Jack-o comes back to him.”

*

Danny lived for moments like this: the thrill of the chase, the high of escaping, the strange afterglow that he felt every time it happened. Nothing in this world could quite beat the sensation of being the smartest guy in the room, but when he thought of Jack Wilder, and how they could finally be a normal couple again now that all this was over, he stood corrected.

He drove up to where he and the other two were supposed to meet, and something in him sank when he saw Henley and Merritt on the ground, she sobbing into him.

Without killing the engine, he immediately stepped out of the cab he was driving and looked at them, silently demanding an explanation.

Merritt turned white when he saw Danny, and he shook Henley slightly into her senses. A light gasp escaped Henley when she saw Danny standing over them, his eyes hard, asking only one question. She stood up shakily.

“Danny—“

“Where is he?”

“Danny—“

“Henley, shut the fuck up and tell me where Jack is.”

“Atlas, leave her alone,” Merritt growled, coming between them, though he was no less pale than he was moments ago. “It’s my fault.”

Danny smirked up at him. “What’s your fault, Merritt?”

Merritt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s my fault that Jack crashed his car.”

The showman grinned shakily. “That was the plan, wasn’t it?” he said cockily. “Now, can you please tell me where the fuck Jack’s car is or so help me God—“

“Jack. Crashed. The. Car,” Merritt said forcefully. “It wasn’t the fake car that crashed. It was the real one. Jack was trapped inside when it crashed, Atlas. He’s gone.”

Danny let out a nervous laugh as he pawed his fingers through his hair. Some rational part of him told him he was having a panic attack, another was telling him that Merritt wasn’t joking, another was telling him that Merritt was lying, and so he said, out of impulse, “You’re a fucking liar.”

Merritt looked at him with hard eyes. “You tell yourself whatever you want, Atlas, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s gone,” He breathed out bitterly. “And I’m sorry. You have no reason to forgive me. But I’m sorry.”

Danny looked at him with dead eyes, shaking his head. “No. No, no, no…” He looked around wildly, his eyes finding Henley. “Henley, please, it’s… it’s not…” His breath hitched in his throat, and he felt like the weight of the world and the sky was on his shoulders, crushing him, threatening to squeeze the life out of him.

“Danny,” she said in a horrified voice as she ran to him and put her arms around him, collapsing with him as his knees gave out, and everything blacked out.

It had to be a dream.

It had to be a nightmare.

Then it was probably real.

Jack

Jack

Jack

*

Not so far away, a good three hours later, Thaddeus Bradley walked into a bar, his requested drink waiting for him. The glowing face of Arthur Tressler smiled up at him, lifting his glass amicably.

“Now, I thought you wouldn’t be too creative when I said start with the heart, Mr. Bradley, but I have to say, what happened today… impressed me.” He pointed to the television set, which showed paramedics extracting the charred corpse of Jack Wilder from the black car.

Bradley shrugged, ensuring that he took great care to adopt an air of casual competence, as though each move was a calculated one. “You did say you liked your Horsemen shredded, sir.”

Tressler chuckled. “Clever how you went for the… leader.”

“They function how he wants them to function, Mr. Tressler. I think you’re well acquainted with that fact,” Bradley said reasonably. “With Jack Wilder out of the picture, and with Daniel Atlas sufficiently distracted, I would say there’s a better chance for us to put them exactly where we want them.”

“Behind bars, yes?” Tressler prompted.

Bradley smiled dryly. “Absolutely wherever you want them to be, Mr. Tressler.”


	13. July 2008: The Wheel of Fortune

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the previous chapter happened, and the long wait starts for our boys. I figured it should come sooner rather than later – the sooner we can get it over with, the sooner they can (maybe?) be reunited, and all will be well, happily ever after, yadda yadda.
> 
> _Maybe._
> 
> Looking at how the story’s unfolding in my mind, I may possibly extend the chapters a little bit (yup, having too much fun writing this). After all, we haven’t at all touched on the inclusion of Lula in the little gang – and, being Jack’s ex, wouldn’t we want to see just how she adds color into the group?
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.

5th July  
Manhattan, New York

For the first time in his life, Jack Wilder felt an overwhelming sense of freedom.

He _hated_ it.

There was nothing ahead of him but the mission, and anything he wanted to do in between. It was better during those moments that he was completely immersed in the mission – for instance, he had started with the simplest of them all, tailing the famous Octa kick out Owen Case to confirm the rumors that he had gotten into selling information to anonymous buyers. He had found enough initial evidence, and it was a matter of sending it to The Eye to build the case for the next public stunt of the Horsemen.

But if he were being honest with himself, there was nothing much to distract him from the incessant thoughts of the few people he loved in this world: Merritt and Henley, Lula, Lara, his folks, and…

He closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. He couldn’t afford to think of _him_ , not now when he wanted to see him so badly.

Jack desperately wished he could talk to someone, but given that Merritt was the only one who knew by pure accident, that left his options running quite low. He had holed himself up in the car he had driven off with, and hadn’t moved for the last five days. By now, he knew that the news was ablaze with the death of the fourth Horseman. Perhaps, by now, the remaining three had released that statement as planned…

Jack sat up quite suddenly. _He could see him._

Whipping out his phone, he connected to the internet and didn’t have to look far: the tribute video was trending with the silly hashtag #AtlastJack. It was posted a day before, two days behind schedule, and Jack shook his head sadly. The three had gone off-plan, and he could only pray to whoever was listening that Danny would be okay.

He flinched when the video started playing.

Danny was _not_ okay.

Even from a small screen, Jack could see the discoloration in his boyfriend’s cerulean eyes: they looked clouded, grayish, as though all the waste of the world found its home in the bed of the ocean. They were the eyes of a haunted man, which were now swollen beyond recognition.

The cheekbones became even more pronounced than they normally were, and his clothes hung loosely from the frail figure – clearly, he wasn’t eating much, if at all. He could see Danny’s hands, hands that he missed holding and kissing, shaking violently as he grasped a card – a jack of spades.

He didn’t register anything that Merritt and Henley were saying; he was far too preoccupied watching Danny’s every tic and move, anything that would assure him that the showman would be okay.

4th July  
Brooklyn, New York

_Nothing._

There was a painful lull of silence after Merritt and Henley had finished their parts. Both were looking at him with sad eyes, and Danny hated it. They had stuck to the script, of course – they were the conscientious ones now, ensuring that they stuck to the plan because Danny—

He would swear up and down that he was going mad.

Clearing his throat, he looked at the camera. Everything seemed too bright – Jesus, why was everything so bright? Jack couldn’t possibly be gone, this was just an illusion, everything was—

“More than anything, Jack wanted to be the world’s greatest magician,” Danny started, his voice breaking slightly on Jack’s name. “I can’t say… I can’t…” He trailed off, wondering what the point of the script was, why they were even bothering with this, when this wasn’t supposed to happen in the first place. They were just kids; they were just fucking college kids who thought it would be nice to do some magic on the side, they weren’t supposed to lose anything, he wasn’t supposed to lose the fucking love of his life to magic—

“Danny,” Henley whispered quietly, putting a gloved hand on his own shaking one. “We can stop now.”

He shook his head vigorously. He can’t stop now—he never could. Stopping would mean giving up on everything Jack worked for, everything he worked for, everything they all worked for. Stopping would mean conceding defeat, that the job was far beyond their capacity, that they were the wrong people for the job. Stopping would be a painful reminder that he lost the one thing that mattered most in his life.

Danny couldn’t stop now, not when he lost everything.

He did the only thing that made sense in his mind now, and J. Daniel Atlas, the control freak, went off-script.

“He wanted to be the world’s greatest magician, and he was,” he started, the corners of his mouth turning up in a small smile, his first in days. “He made you lose things – your wallet, your food, your mind at times, but he conjured up the impossible half the time. Wherever Jack was, it was, well… full of magic.” Danny gulped as he heard Jack’s chuckle in his mind, calling him a sap before planting a loud and wet kiss on his neck. It felt so damn real…

“Jack was my best friend, and eventually, he decided I was good enough to be more. I don’t know why he did that – poor judgment that worked to my advantage, at that time, I always said. I’ve seen how people’s lives are just a touch more magical with some other people, but with Jack, it was… astonishingly more,” Danny plowed on. “Every show, every appearance, every move has always been calculated and planned, but I never could do it with Jack Wilder. But it didn’t take away the magic – it just added more of it, each time he did.”

The tremor in his hand was subsiding, and he felt Henley’s grip on him slacken as he took a deep breath, closing his eyes to keep the images of a smiling Jack Wilder at bay. “This wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did: Jack had to… I… we had to lose Jack to do what is we need to do. And if any of you think that this is the end of the Horsemen, think again. We have a mission. Jack made sure we would carry out the mission. The point is—“

Though a spark ignited in his otherwise dead eyes, his voice cracked on the last three words.

“The point is we’ve come too far now,” Merritt supplied for him, in which Danny was grateful, as he wasn’t sure if he could continue. “This is all bigger than all of us, and we cannot stop now.”

25th July  
Bergen, New Jersey

It was the text that he never expected.

It came in the wee hours of the morning, when he was still asleep in some dingy motel room. It took him a while to read it, because he just couldn’t find the energy to do anything more than to sleep after the taxing evening he had surveying the property he had to pull a heist off for in a few weeks’ time.

But the second he read it, he immediately moved.

A mere half hour later, Jack was tearing down the road as fast as the car could take him without attracting the attention of anyone – he supposes, though, that it didn’t matter: he was dead, after all.

For the first time in almost a month, he felt excited, he felt the joy bubbling up inside him. He killed the engine in front of the large house, and practically raced to the door, rapping what he hoped was still a familiar rhythm.

The response was instantaneous. He heard feet race madly to the door, and before he could so much as blink, his head was buried in long locks of blonde hair and he found himself being squeezed practically to death by a pair of frail arms. His assailant took a step back, and he looked into burning blue eyes in fear.

“You were gone,” came the hoarse whisper. He was alarmed at how unrecognizable it was.

“I had to stay away. I’m sorry.”

18th July  
Queens, New York

If Henley had any suspicions as to where they were getting the information that The Eye was sending them, she kept quiet about it.

Of course she knew where their intelligence came from: it could only be done by a sleight, a fellow magician, someone who was used to hiding in plain sight. Every time she caught Merritt’s eye whenever they received a new blueprint, she knew they were of the same thought.

Their Jack was in action.

Daniel – they had fallen back into his given name, as they learned the hard way – was none the wiser. She hated how much he had detached himself from the world, from her and Merritt, and he seemed to have gone to a place where no one else could follow. More than once, she wanted to scream at him, tell him the truth, anything to get him back to their world and in their lives, but Merritt had shot her a warning look each and every time, and she had settled for sighing and walking out of the room in frustration.

He had shaved off all his hair about two weeks after the bridge. It’s a shame – she really did find Daniel’s long blonde locks beautiful, and without it, he looked too… she shook her head, banishing the thought from her mind.

The Eye had called them to an abandoned warehouse, saying that they were to pick up something that would help them with the upcoming mission in September.

The ride there was silent – she had volunteered to drive, and thus frequently chanced a glance at Merritt looking out his window on the passenger seat, and Daniel, who was stoically pretending to be asleep in the back seat.

“Well, isn’t this nice,” she said softly, turning her eyes back on the road.

They reached their destination and stepped out of the car, Daniel taking the lead into the warehouse.

“So, what do you think this is?” Henley said, wincing at how forced her attempt at conversation was.

The showman shrugged. “That’s why we’re here,” he said in a clipped tone, as though talking couldn’t be a duller activity for him right now.

Merritt cleared his throat. “Well, I suppose the floozies think we could use some help.”

Daniel stopped in his tracks and turned to Merritt with flashing eyes. “What exactly are you saying, Merritt?” he snapped. “You think we aren’t getting the job done properly?”

The mentalist raised an eyebrow and held up two pacifying hands. “Was there supposed to be another layer to what I said?” he said in a matter-of-fact but noticeably gentle tone.

Before Daniel could respond, an overly-cheerful voice came from the room below them. “Sorry, am I interrupting?”

Henley looked at the speaker and gaped. “What are you doing here?”

25th July  
Bergen, New Jersey

The ocean blue eyes filled with tears. “We didn’t hear from you at all, Jack.”

Jack hung his head. “I’m sorry, Lars.”

“It was just supposed to be fake! They brought home a body!” Lara continued, her lower lip trembling.

“Lara, I will explain everything, I promise,” Jack said, pulling his shaking sister into his arms. “I just have to see Mama and Pops too, please. I’ll tell you everything.”

His parents were waiting in the sitting room, and the second Jack walked in, Monica gave a gasp and ran to her son, pulling him in an all-encompassing hug. Ken Wilder stood up, his blue eyes lighting up as he took in the sight of his only son, pulling both he and his wife into his arms.

“Mama. Pops,” Jack whispered brokenly, a heavy weight lifting from his heart.

“Joaquin,” Ken said in a stern but shaky voice, one that preempted trouble on a normal day, but today it was the best sound in the world. “We will have a family dinner tonight, and you will explain to us why the hell we had to watch you die on national television without so much as a peep from you. And it goes without saying that you are in a heap of trouble, young man.”

He shook his head and gasped out, “That sounds good, Pops.”

25th July  
Bergen, New Jersey

It felt fantastic to finally tell the truth, and to his family, no less.

Jack sat back two hours later, exhausting himself beyond means as his parents and sister digested the fantastic story that he just regaled them with. Not for the first time did he find himself incredibly grateful for having the perfect family – it was certainly not easy to be the sister or parents of a college student-turned-vigilante in the last months.

He looked at Ken and Monica, his eyes imploring. “Mama, Pops,” he said gently. “I’m sorry.”

Ken gave a start and frowned. “For what?”

“For worrying you. For disappointing you,” he explained. “I know this isn’t what you wanted for me—“

“Stop right there, Joaquin,” Ken interrupted angrily. “For keeping us worried, yes. I don’t know if we can ever accept your apology for that. But for disappointing us? What gave you that idea?” When Jack said nothing, the older man shook his head. “Jack, you have been… a wonderful son. Whatever we want for you would never quite be enough, but all that matters to us is that you’re living with something that you want. And I have to ask now – is this it?”

For some inexplicable reason, the big smile of Daniel Atlas sprawled on their bed came to his mind, and he thought that he could answer his father’s question properly. Remembering his situation, though, made him sad, and it must have shown, since his father stood up and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Why don’t you walk away, then, son?” Ken asked softly. “You know we will do everything we can to help you get your life back.”

Jack shook his head, putting a hand over his father’s. “Pops, the reason why I want to walk away is exactly why I want to keep going,” he said gently.

Lara looked at her brother with piercing blue eyes. “You can’t come back to him until it’s over,” she said definitively.

“Amore mio,” Monica interjected. “I have—I have seen the news. Perhaps you don’t need to come bck, Jack. Maybe you can stay for good this time—“

His head snapped up. “What news, Mama?”

Monica and Lara looked at each other, the latter standing up to turn on the television set on the kitchen table. Jack’s eyes widened as he took in the clip that was being played.

18th July  
Queens, New York

The dark brown hair was longer than he remembered and, begrudgingly, Daniel admitted the face was a lot more beautiful than he last saw it backstage, all those months ago. He choked back a horrified laugh as he put two and two together.

“Lula,” he said in a choked voice. “Henley asked you a question.”

She held up a tarot card, and something in him sank in dread. “I got one of these, and it had the address and time written on it. It’s … uh…” she turned the card over to look at what was written on it. “It’s the Wheel of Fortune. Ring a bell?” Lula looked up at them all hopefully.

The Wheel of Fortune.

Good fortune, a turning point, gambling.

Daniel let out a small laugh.

The Eye, once more, got a rise out of fucking him over, again and again.

25th July  
Bergen, New Jersey

For once, Jack wasn’t paying attention to Danny’s face, already so cold and closed-off, as he addressed the world through his smartphone.

“The show must go on, apparently,” his boyfriend was saying dryly. “As such, we want to tell you that we’re still here, and we’ve filled our… vacancy.”

Dark brown hair, red lips, blue eyes, pale skin.

Jack remembered what it was like to be acquainted with those bits of the newcomer that now appeared in between Danny and Henley.

“Our newest member, everybody – Lula May!” Henley said with some amount of enthusiasm as she looked into the camera.

Merritt clapped his hands once. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are again, the Four Horsemen! Good night!” before the screen went black.

18th July  
Queens, New York

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Shit.”

25th July  
Bergen, New Jersey

Jack ran his fingers through his hair.

“Shit.”


	14. August 2008: Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world of the impossible, Daniel wanted to tear the world apart, if it meant finding Jack again. He wanted to stop the revolution of the earth around the sun and create a thousand lunar eclipses if it meant Jack would find his way back to him. He wanted to create melodies that would make Bach and Beethoven sound like nursery rhymes, if it only meant that he and Jack would be together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Clearly, I missed our boys. The ideas refuse to be contained, and I’ve been writing into the morning for the last two days – hence, Chapter 14. The flow of the story is quite clear in my mind for now, and I thought I better take it down and publish it before something else comes up again and I don’t get to update for another 6 months (though I doubt I would get a second proposal anytime soon).
> 
> I’m going to try my best to blend in events from both movies as seamlessly as possible, not forgetting that this is after all, a college AU. While I realize that too much deux ex machina might be required to bring them back into the college setting (warning of what’s to come, right there), I don’t think I need too much help from the god of the machine to inject some good old-fashioned college drama, especially with all that Danny’s going through now. But at the same time, let’s have some fun now that Lula’s in the picture. ;)
> 
> Lastly, as there are certain stories I would like to focus on, I would think that no additional side stories will be written from either Thaddeus Bradley’s or Dylan Rhodes’ point of view – unless I’m in the right mood to write them. Unfortunately, that means goodbye to any budding agent/student relationship between Dylan and Alma, and whatever big reveal (that you’re already well aware of, anyway) for Bradley.
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.

Shortly after they introduced Lula to their online following (which of course, made news once more), they were whisked off to God-knows-where to “continue their education” and go undercover for the next heist. It was a small community college on the outskirts of the city, with a population of about five hundred students. Not a lot happened in their part of town, so with a wig and thick pairs of glasses, they found it fairly easy to blend in with the community.

Daniel wondered if The Eye had a conscience, after all, what with giving them back whatever it was they stole from them. He swallowed bitterly as he thought of Jack – no, he backtracked, there were some things that they can never give back to him.

Over the last two months, The Eye had pulled together evidence that Owen Case, former Octa IT student, was indeed selling private information to shady technological names for a hefty profit. If Daniel had cared, he would have commended the work behind the information that The Eye shared with them: he knew at the back of his mind that it required an unhealthy amount of subterfuge, sneaking around, and basically a master sleight’s hand.

He gulped, remembering the only sleight he would probably ever care about.

The mission gave him a sense of purpose, something to fight for every minute. It required a 150% of his attention and brainpower, and he was more than willing to hand over full control of his facilities to the mission. He refused to let anything else send him to the recesses of his mind – happier recesses that was inhabited by the world’s greatest magician, the best sleight of hand he knew, his best friend, his… boyfriend? His ex-boyfriend?

Daniel no longer knew how to remember Jack in his futile attempts to forget him: he knew that a walk down that path will keep him there, to the point of no return. Nothing can send him spiraling downward.

“Daniel?” came a soft female’s voice from the threshold. No one.

He looked up at the newcomer and nodded cordially. “Lula.”

Not even the addition of Jack’s best friend-slash-ex-girlfriend to the team managed to derail Daniel, something that he was quite proud of. He had taken it in stride and just carried on with the show as planned, introducing the Wheel of Fortune to the rest of the world, including her in all the plans, and bringing her up to speed.

Merritt and Henley were much warmer to the newcomer, and Daniel couldn’t blame them: after weeks of pushing them out as much as he could, Lula’s infectious energy and bright cheer must be a welcome change for them.

During an unguarded moment, when the three thought Daniel wasn’t in the flat, he would hear them laughing as Lula did voice impersonations of random people they met on campus: the ridiculous psychology professor who Merritt was dying to give a taste of his medicine to, the big captain of the basketball team who never ceased to hit on Henley, and the botany major – a dorky little thing – who seemed to have eyes only for Lula. It was in that moment that he fully appreciated why Lula had been Jack’s best friend when he… the similarities were uncanny, and yet, it didn’t help Daniel, not at all.

He suspects that’s why he maintained such a distance from Lula.

Lula shuffled by the threshold self-consciously. “Look, I want to cut the crap. I want to talk about Jack.”

Daniel’s heart raced at the mention of his name, and he felt himself tense all over. He opened his mouth to say something, but Lula had closed the door behind her and taken a stool to sit right in front of it, leaving him no room to escape.

For once, he was at a complete loss for words.

“I said, I wanted to talk. You don’t need to talk. But you do have to listen,” she said as she ran her fingers through her long brown hair. “Look, I can’t imagine how much it sucks for you. I mean, I’m the ex-girlfriend-turned-best-friend, and I was a wreck when I saw it on the news. I can’t imagine how it would have been like if I had been the best-friend-turned-boyfriend. And for that, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

The showman looked at her wordlessly, tilting his head as he tried to process his thoughts. He could smell something like acid burning in his nose, and there was a sharp stinging sensation in his eyes, but otherwise, he wasn’t sure how to respond to her. She was looking at him with sad blue eyes, shining with unshed tears.

“I tried to rally for him. I know you know that,” Lula whispered, hastily wiping her eyes and smudging the little make-up she had on. “It wasn’t until I realized that it’s always been you that I finally accepted that he and I could have nothing more than this. I had my chance, and I won’t deny that I regret wasting it more than anything.”

She sounded very bitter indeed as she said the last words, but she plowed on. “But it happened, and he found you, and suddenly, he’s never been so happy. Then I realized that maybe I could live with the regret, because no way could I have ever made Jack Wilder as happy as you made him.”

She stopped and looked away, and Daniel realized that he had been holding his breath. He exhaled, and a deluge seemed to have escaped with his breath. Lula stood up, still not looking at him. “Look, I… I know I’m new. And I’m probably the last person you want to talk to. That’s fine. But… Merritt and Henley have always been there for you. I don’t know you much, but I knew Jack pretty well. And he wouldn’t have liked you to push them away, Daniel.”

She sniffed, setting the stool aside and putting her hand on the doorknob. “We’re all each other’s got, Daniel. That’s all I’ve got to say.”

Lula closed the door gently behind her, leaving Daniel in his place with unseeing eyes.

God damn it, she had forced herself into his room, and opened a festering wound, and it hurt like a bitch.

For the first time in almost two months, Daniel clutched his middle in pain, curled up in his mind, and cried in earnest. He found himself missing Jack, wishing he were still here, hating that he no longer had the honor of being by his side. He didn’t ever want to feel this pain: he wanted to finish the mission perfectly before dropping everything, and just finding peace somewhere that wasn’t in fucking New York.

_Jack!_

_Jack!_

_Jack!_

In a world of the impossible, Daniel wanted to tear the world apart, if it meant finding Jack again. He wanted to stop the revolution of the earth around the sun and create a thousand lunar eclipses if it meant Jack would find his way back to him. He wanted to create melodies that would make Bach and Beethoven sound like nursery rhymes, if it only meant that he and Jack would be together.

He would do the impossible in exchange for the impossible.

Hours later, there was a tentative knock on Henley Reeves’ bedroom door. She opened it, and found a lost-looking J. Daniel Atlas standing in front of her, unsure on what he ought to do.

“I… may I—“ he stammered.

She shushed him and wrapped her arms around him, feeling him shake violently under her touch. “It’s okay, Danny.”

He gasped and clung to her for dear life. “I want him back, Hen,” he sobbed into her.

In that moment, Henley was grateful for whatever it was that finally broke the walls of the mighty J. Daniel Atlas. She promised she wouldn’t ever let him go now, if not for the racking guilt of knowledge weighing down on her.

She knew that one day, the fall would come, and she would feel the full wrath of J. Daniel Atlas upon her, for looking on even as he suffered in silence. He would spit out words of hate and betrayal, and perhaps might not ever forgive her for allowing him to suffer as much as he did.

But until then, Henley knew she needed him now. And she would be what he needed at whatever given point, and she could only pray that his pain would eventually go away.

“I know you do, Danny, I know you do,” she said gently, holding him tightly and listening to his long-delayed sobs. “You’ll be okay at the end of it all, I promise you.”

It wasn’t perfect. But bit by bit, things started to get better.

It was fairly easy to get the feel of Elkhorn Community College, and Daniel was pretty surprised at how much he missed when he finally rejoined the world. Almost everyone in campus was a scholar, but there was the mystery of the vanishing scholars: students who had complied perfectly with all academic requirements, had no misconduct whatsoever, and yet were no longer invited to return during the next semester.

From the intel gathered by The Eye, certain members of the Board of Directors had been using the scholarship funds for their own investments: stock certificates named to them, buildings in different colleges named to them, luxurious condominium units in Upper Manhattan… the list went on. They had the proof, all they needed now was an audience, and the perfect opportunity to expose the members of the Board of Directors.

The perfect opportunity was put up in the college board one day, and the date was set.

“September the 1st,” Lula said loudly as she entered their flat, brandishing a yellow piece of paper.

“Sorry?” Merritt echoed absently, his eyes not leaving the thick psychology manuscript he read. Henley felt a surge of affection for her… best friend? Boyfriend? – more than any of them, he seemed to have missed studying the most.

“September the 1st, Monday!” Lula said excitedly, putting the yellow piece of paper in front of them. “It’s the Annual Scholars General Assembly, and the Board of Directors will be there! This is it!”

Daniel jumped up from his seat, criminal law textbook forgotten, as he picked up Lula’s flyer. He read over it once and nodded approvingly. “This seems like a good time,” he acknowledged.

“Seems? Seems?” Lula echoed, rolling her eyes. “Atlas, just admit that I found the freaking perfect time for this!”

“Sure, good girl,” he said absently, tapping her on the cheek as he passed by.

“Asswipe.”

“Shut up, Merritt,” Daniel called out.

“That wasn’t Merritt!” Lula said angrily.

*

Jack Wilder’s heart jumped when he saw the message on his phone.

_Horsemen @ Elkhorn_  
Next show: September 1st, Monday  
Provide distraction. Provide entrance. 

He didn’t reply – he never did, even if he could.

The Eye knew he got their message, anyway.

He had completed many intel missions in the last two months: he had built the case against Owen Case, stashed away the scholars’ fund in a safe place only he knew, to be retrieved only when the right time came, and procured evidence of the irregular spending of Elkhorn’s Board Members. Surprisingly, he found it was fairly easy to accomplish these tasks, although he missed the limelight, he missed his friends, and Danny.

Now that he was presented with a job that would bring him in such close quarters with his friends and his… boyfriend, Jack was beyond terrified. They weren’t due to meet until a week before the final task, their swan song, in September, and he wondered if he could be as efficient with the job as he normally would be.

The temptation of seeing Danny again, to be so near him—

Jack shook his head. No, he told himself. _You have a job to do, and they’re counting on you. He’s counting on you._

Jack looked at his phone’s calendar, and he saw that he had barely a week to prepare behind-the-scenes. He squared his shoulders and shot a text to his parents and Lara, who had made him promise to update him every time he had a new mission to finish. It had been two weeks since he last visited them, and he was just relieved that The Eye had cut him some slack and allowed him to interface with his family as often as he did.

God only knows how he would gone off the edge if he didn’t have the infrequent trips to Lara, to his mother and father… he shuddered just thinking about it.

The drive to Elkhorn was something that both filled him with excitement and dread. It also gave Jack some time to think about how ridiculously tired he was, and the reminder of what awaited him at the end of all his missions: Danny, always Danny. He missed the little smiles and smirks that the showman threw at him frequently; the big, beautiful smile that he knew was reserved only for him; the no-nonsense voice that transforms into something beautifully beastly when it was just the two of them; the opal eyes that made so much sense every time Jack gazed into them.

He missed being the person in the world who J. Daniel Atlas bares his beauty to completely, and every time he was on the verge of quitting, of just walking away like his family begs him to do, he holds on to that desire to be that person once more.

Danny’s last words echoed in his mind: _“I don’t care how much more of me you can take, but I don’t plan on ever letting you go, and nothing as petty as a criminal record, a failed show, and all the goddamned continents will keep me from wanting to be with you.”_

Jack laughed, realizing his greatest fear: that it wouldn’t be the case, that it wouldn’t be the same when they finally did meet again. But even if it meant waiting for Daniel Atlas to come back to honor that promise, so be it.

Now, he had work to do.

Elkhorn, he found very quickly, was a relatively small community. Hiding in plain sight had always been one of his specialties, and he did that quite easily with an unassuming security guard’s uniform and a scruffy beard. No one gave him much of a second glance, and Jack preferred it that way: he was looking for a certain someone, in addition to familiarizing himself with the campus, and it wouldn’t do for him to be visible.

Three days before the show, as he emerged from rigging the auditorium’s media room, Jack Wilder found what he was looking for.

“We’ll be coming from here—“ came a quiet female whisper.

“Shh,” shushed another female voice. “There’s a compartment here—“

“Ladies, please,” chimed in a drawling, familiar voice. “Let’s call Captain Obvious now, shall we?”

Jack could almost envision long fingers rubbing the bridge of his nose as he heard an exasperated reply. “Would you just like me to phone the authorities and tell them the whole plan to save them the trouble?” came the no-nonsense voice he had so desperately wanted to hear for the last two months.

The urge to show up, to reveal himself to them, was overpowering. Instead, Jack forced himself back into the room, though still peeking out into the hallway. He didn’t have to wait long: four figures that were initially unrecognizable to Jack stepped out into the light, and for a minute, he thought he heard wrong.

Then the tallest figure spoke again: “See? No one’s here, you paranoid asswipe.”

“Well, excuse me for wanting to be careful,” Danny replied curtly, though without venom in his voice.

The wigs they all wore, coupled with the thick glasses they sported, made them almost unrecognizable. He gave an appreciative glance at Merritt and Henley, who somehow still managed to hold hands even during their little reconnaissance mission; he took a long look at his ex-girlfriend-turned-best-friend, taking in how beautiful she had become; but nothing was more important than the sight of Danny.

He was grateful that Danny looked well, far better than the sporadic videos he posted as the leader of the Four Horsemen. His cheeks filled out slightly again, well on their way to being back to the cheeks Jack remembered, and his eyes, even obscured by the thick hipster glasses, weren’t so haunted anymore – just a touch sad, if he wasn’t mistaken. Gone were the beautiful locks he had the last time he saw Danny, the short bristles from their second meeting resurfacing. The slight hunch in the way he walked was more pronounced now, but to Jack, there was never a more beautiful sight than Daniel Atlas right now.

Danny was looking around, and Jack’s heart stopped when he seemed to find the media room. “There’s the media room. I’m going to go check it.” He started walking purposefully to the said room.

Panic seized Jack, and he did the first thing that came to his mind: he grabbed his phone, putting it on his ear, and started talking to an imaginary friend in a loud drawl that wasn’t his own. “Marissa, you gotta listen to me, I ain’t taking no crap from you! I work like a horse all day and if I come home and catch you in the act with Bruce, there’ll be hell to pay!” he said angrily, quickly striding out of the room, channeling the angry bull he had in his mind.

“You’re my wife and I deserve some respect!” he roared, seeing the four freeze from the corner of his eye as he walked away, hoping and praying to God that it worked. “I’m coming home right now!”

He kept up the pretense of muttering loudly to himself, but he heard even from the distance, Danny’s long exhale. “Jeez, that was close. Thank God for cheating wives.”

Later, in his car, Jack Wilder laughed himself silly, the tension and the nervousness seeping through him. That was far too close, but he remembered how badly he wanted to be caught. He shook his head, tossing aside the scruffy beard and wig. Time for a new disguise.

Back in their flat, Daniel Atlas frowned. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he missed something deadly important in the auditorium. He shook his head slightly – he was being ridiculous, just fatigue overpowering him. He could probably do with some sleep.

That night, for the first time in almost two months, The Lovers dreamt of Death again.

*

The young man smiled at the report he had been given.

The Four Horsemen were going to expose the unfortunate Board Members who had pilfered the poor scholars’ fund: led by The Lovers, with The Hermit, The High Priestess, and The Wheel of Fortune completing the show.

Death, it seemed, would be watching from the shadows – as he had the last two months, operating in secret, in stealth, with such dangerous efficiency.

He clapped his hands together. This was a show he wanted to make sure the Horsemen and the rest of the country would never forget.

“Showtime,” he said with a big grin.


	15. September 2008: #AtlastJack (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOTES: At last, Jack. #AtlastJack  
> But we didn’t expect it to be that easy, did we?
> 
> This chapter is for AnotherGirlWithAStory, whose generous reviews and kind words served as a huge motivation for me to finish 5 chapters in a span of two days. A big, big thank you can only be done in the form of this chapter, which I hope you find to your liking.
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.

Before long, it was time for the show.

Lula was nervous. It was her first show, after all.

Henley was anxious. It was their first show together, as a new unit.

Merritt was worried. It was their first show since the incident, and he had no idea what would happen.

Daniel was beyond breaking point. It was his first show without him, and felt the familiar pang of loneliness and grief striking him. He took a few calming breaths, willing himself to get his act together. He had to do this. For his team. For himself. For Jack.

And Jack was all of the above, a solo act in the middle of the bigger performance, but he understood the implication of his role. He had to be useful to the four without them feeling his presence. Most of all, though, he was excited: it was September, and that meant just a few weeks until finally, finally, he and Danny would be together again.

He could only hope that they would fall into place as easily as he wished.

Jack planted himself in the front of house, stealing things that could be of use when he had to go backstage much later to set up the pieces for the other four. Really, he didn’t know why The Eye thought they needed him – in between Lula’s mutilation stunts, Henley’s disappearing act, Merritt’s mentalism, and Danny’s overall quick fingers, they seemed to have gotten it all under control.

All he had to do, really, was to sweep the little remnants they left in their wake: pacifying the overly excited crowd following Lula’s fake arm flying halfway across the room, leaving Merritt a clear shot to hypnotize the Board Member set to make the opening speech, providing an extra distraction to ensure that Henley really did disappear, and…

It was ironic that he would help the one person who mattered the most in the same media room that Jack had very nearly encountered him mere days before.

Jack was passing by with another guard, purely with the intent to make sure that everything was all right, when Danny stepped out of the media room wearing the blue overalls of a mechanic, holding another man by the cuff of his identical mechanic’s suit. “Guard, excuse me, we have an intruder here,” Danny said irritably, addressing Jack directly without looking at him. “He had a bracelet on – you might want to check it.”

There was a split second that Jack relished the fact that Danny – his Danny – had directly addressed him. It took all his willpower and focus to mutter a gruff, “All right, what do we have here?” he said in a voice that wasn’t his own. “Elkhorn Mental Institute, John… Yates.”

“No! No! This guy—this guy slapped it on me, and—“

“Come with us, buddy!” the other guard barked roughly.

“Wait! I can have a phone call! It’s my right, it’s my right!”

Jack, at this point, had deftly taken the other man’s phone and replaced it with a banana he had confiscated earlier in the front of house. He addressed the other guard. “Dude, he’s right, give him his phone, he can have a call.”

The real mechanic looked at Jack and nodded. “Thank you,” he said stiffly, drawing a… banana from his pocket. He screamed protests all the way until the other guard rounded the corner with him.

Jack stole a glance at the media room, but it was already completely empty, the mechanic’s overalls on the floor. He grinned, feeling something flutter in his chest. It was time to get on with the show.

Nothing could go wrong now.

Later on, Jack Wilder would go back to the moment he said that nothing could go wrong, and say how fucking wrong he was about that: it really was quite quick how he had transitioned from watching his friends and the love of his life take the stage by storm to being seized with dread as everything started to go wrong.

The Board Member who Jack recognized as the one Merritt had hypnotized earlier came up the stage, eyes slightly out of focus, but not noticeable to the regular viewer. He chuckled as he wondered what words Merritt was going to the man spew out.

“Good evening, scholars!” the man started amiably. “Now, I’ve made the claim that there is nothing more important in this world than a progressive education, the nourishment of minds in this simple institution.” The man shrugged carelessly, putting on a silly smile. “But the truth is, it’s just one of those things I say, when in fact, I actually mean something else.”

Excited murmurs filled the auditorium. “What else do I mean?” the Board Member droned on. “Well, here to fill you in on our fabulous lies and hypocrisy, and to perform some of the most dazzling feats of magic you have ever seen – the world’s greatest magicians. Here to expose me and some of my fellow corrupt ones for the frauds that we are, ladies and gentlemen, the Four Horsemen!”

Four figures burst through the screen to much screaming and cheers. Jack shook his head as he clapped along, looking in awe at his friends and…

Danny had a small elfin smile on his face. “Hello, Elkhorn! Thank you so much, it’s great to be back.”

“Give it up for our newest Horseman, Lula!” Henley screamed into her mic as Lula gave a low bow.

Jack saw Merritt wink at Lula, mouthing, “Feels good, don’t it?”

Lula nodded excitedly, surveying the adoring crowd. “Pretty good. Pretty good!”

Danny clapped his hands twice. “Thank you, thank you. Now, look, we’re here to talk about your education. What does your education, your future mean to you? Because apparently, it means nothing to some of your Board Members right here.”

Henley shook her head of long red hair. “No, Danny, it’s less than that. It means less than nothing to these guys. You see, they mocked your education – in fact, they scorned it.”

“We aren’t just talking about your regular scorning, mind you,” Merritt said in his bored, drawling voice. “We’re talking theft on an epic proportion, one that—“ Static interrupted Merritt’s words, cutting off his mic somehow.

Lula took over immediately. “Theft for their own personal—oww,” she cried as the static resurfaced, and she too was cut off almost immediately.

The alarm bells rang in Jack’s mind: something was wrong.

He saw it first in the face of Danny, which twitched with discomfort as they lost their mics and a deep crackle filled the sound system. A broken face filling the screens in lieu of the Horsemen, cutting off Lula completely.

“Danny, what’s going on?” Henley said, forgetting that the mic was still live.

“Oh my, my, my,” came a deep voice, one that filled the auditorium. “Magic is about controlling perception, Horsemen. Are you truly the champions of truth? Or is this just another one of your tricks? You and your secrets, Horsemen, you and your secrets…”

“Abort,” Danny said in a very tight voice as he started to take off his mic.

“Daniel Atlas, the master of secrets; Lula May, the wide-eyed newbie. You two have nothing in common, don’t you? Or so you thought,” came that deep, electronic voice. “Let me reveal the biggest secret of all, one that was so well-kept from you, one that has been right under your nose this whole time.”

Suddenly, there was a cry in the audience as the harsh spotlight turned to the security guard from this evening. The guard cried out as he was blinded by the light – he couldn’t see anything or anyone for a split second as he tried and failed to disappear. In the guard’s struggle, the wig and beard had fallen to the ground, and people were screaming his name, and Danny heard a faint whimper escape his mouth as he looked at Jack Wilder, back from the dead, and who now struggled to stumble out of the spotlight as more flashes went off, people desperate to take a photo of Lazarus.

“You recall the guard with the cheating wife from two days ago, and the guard who took away that poor mechanic early this evening,” the voice continued mockingly. “You two have been tricked by your friends, by the so-called love of your little lives, into believing that the death of Jack Wilder was real. Well… he’s been very much alive for the last two agonizing months.”

“No,” Danny whispered, falling on his knees, gazing at Jack, now fighting his way through the crowd to get up onstage. “This isn’t real—“

“And what more… oh,” the deep voice seemed to chuckle in a sinister way. “The FBI is here.”

Danny was aware of the security guard in front of him, shaking him by the shoulders, but it was so strange – he had Jack’s face, though it was older and more tired than he last remembered seeing it. His fingers were shaking as they moved to touch the face, willing it to come back to reality, because Jack’s face couldn’t possibly change, not when he escaped all changes two months ago—

“You’re not real,” he mumbled as he squinted.

“Atlas, move!” Merritt’s voice boomed in his ear, and without thinking, he felt his legs move on their own to flee with the other four. “Run to the chute now!”

“What the bleeding FUCK?” Lula screamed as they all ran wildly to the rooftop. She was crying furiously, looking at Jack as they fled. “You are fucking DEAD, Wilder!”

Jack closed his eyes. “I was—“

“NO, YOU AREN’T NOW, BUT YOU WILL BE!” she screeched, pointing at the dazed and hypnotized fleeing figure of Daniel Atlas. “IF HE WON’T KILL YOU, THEN IT WOULD BE MY PLEASURE!”

“LULA!” Henley snapped, her breath short from the running they had to do. “RUN NOW, KILL LATER!”

“The chute!” Merritt cried as he slid down without a second thought, everyone following immediately.

It seemed like the chute went on forever, but finally, they were at the end of it. Instead of landing on the ground, though, they landed in an empty white room. Danny blinked, the spell lifted from him, and looked around dazedly at his companions. When he saw Jack, who was looking for a way out of the room, he shrank back.

“Oh God, oh God, I’m finally crazy,” Danny mumbled, facing the wall and knocking his head on it repeatedly.

Jack immediately turned in concern and started walking toward Danny, but Lula intercepted him and— SMACK!

Jack’s head turned to one side, an angry red mark on his face. “What the HELL, Lula?!”

“Don’t you DARE, Joaquin Wilder!” she screamed, shoving him forcefully. “Don’t you DARE get all pissy and hissy at me, because you have no FUCKING right to! You lied to me, you lied to everybody, you lied to—God damn it, Jack!” She burst into tears, throwing her arms around him and weeping into his shoulder.

Before Jack could so much as react, an invisible door in the white walls swung open. Two muscled men entered and made to touch them, but before any of them could even fight back, a chipper voice chimed in: “Now, boys, no manhandling my guests! They can walk, you know.”

Henley knelt down next to Danny, who was still blankly facing the wall. “Danny, come on,” she said gently. “I’m real. You’re real. Jack is real. He’s always been,” she said in a broken voice.

Danny looked at her, the death in his eyes pronounced once more. “You knew?” he asked in a small voice.

She closed her eyes and tried to touch him. “Danny—“

“Don’t,” he said harshly, standing up abruptly and walking out of the room.

When he entered the room, a large dome-like living room with plush seats, he immediately surveyed the surroundings. Hired muscle on all corners of the room, and a small man facing the skyline, dressed all in white and humming something that sounded suspiciously like ‘Stayin’ Alive’. Lula seated on the solo seat next to the long couch, where Henley, Merritt, and Jack were seated in. Danny gulped, immediately moving to the other side of the room, until one of the hired muscle pushed him and forced him to sit right next to Jack, who immediately tensed up next to him.

For a long moment, there was only silence. It was only broken by the man in white, who turned to the five with a happy smile on his face. “Now come on, guys, don’t be shy. This has been a reunion months – years, in fact, in the making! The least you could do to thank me is to actually use it well! Henley? Merritt? No? Lula, then? Danny? Or—oh, the star of the night—Jack Wilder?”

The mere mention of his name was unbelievably painful, and having him next to him just about set Danny on edge. How many times had he fantasized for this moment to come? How many times had he cried himself to sleep, knowing it wasn’t going to happen, and still—it did? Was this what he wanted?

“Cut the horseshit, Walter, we know what you want,” Jack said irritably, and oh!, that voice was certainly something; it was just as perfect as he remembered it, it was real, and he was actually here—

“Jack-o, you forget that not all of us do,” Merritt supplied unhelpfully.

Danny looked directly at Merritt, his eyes narrowing. “You knew,” he said simply.

Merritt rubbed his face with his hands. “Atlas, now really isn’t—“

“Fuck you,” Danny spat bitterly.

“Danny—“ Jack said gently, trying to reach for him.

“And you,” he said with venom and pure hatred as he stepped away from Jack, pointing a shaking finger at him. “Stay away from me, Wilder.”

“Walter, Walter Mabry?” Henley cut in, desperate to regain some semblance of normalcy in the otherwise screwed-up situation they found themselves in. “Why the hell—“

Before Walter could even speak, Jack stood up in exasperation. “Because he was in cahoots with Owen Case to get database files from every university they could swindle, and he wants us to shut up about it,” he explained angrily.

“We don’t have your files. Hell, we don’t know anything about it!” Henley snapped.

Walter shook his head, pointing at Jack. “You don’t. But he does.”

Lula looked confused as she raised a hand sarcastically. “Look, I’m sorry, but I’m kind of lost here. I didn’t sign up for this, so can someone kindly onboard me with WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!”

“Patience, Lula,” Walter said easily. “You’ll understand everything as we go down our nice little list of issues to talk about. But first, don’t you want to know how you got here?”

“We already know how you did it,” Henley said with a sarcastic little smile.

Walter’s eyes narrowed. “No, you don’t.”

“Sure, we do!” Merritt said in a chipper voice. “First, you stole our files for the show, then you obviously hypnotized us—“

The bearded man shook his head agitatedly. “No, seriously, stop.”

“The strobe was a combination of binaural beats, as well as—“ Jack drawled on, but was immediately cut off by Walter Mabry’s right hand, which was now on his mouth, the left hand clutching the collar of his jacket. A familiar sensation filled Danny as he observed the contact between Jack and their kidnapper.

“I SAID STOP!” Walter’s hand slid down slightly, the tip of his nose practically touching Jack’s. “You might not be having fun, but I am,” he said earnestly.

Jack’s dark eyes looked him over warily. “You have a weird way of showing it, man.”

“So—“ Walter said delicately as he took a step back. “How did I do it? Easy. In your heightened state of agitation, you saw the simplest cues. Black tube, roof. And your minds filled in the rest. But the tube you meant to go down was 20 feet to your right. Anyway, once in the tube, yes, you're right... Blah, blah, blah, the strobe contained UV letters pulsing the word "sleep." And that, combined with the sound, put you into an instant alpha pattern. And from then on, it really was just fun.” He concluded as he turned on the television set, which flashed different images of the five in various compromising positions, bulk of which featured Jack and Danny.

There was a pink tinge coloring Danny’s cheeks as he indifferently cut in Walter’s slideshow. “All right, that’s enough,” he said in a clipped tone as Jack coughed in embarrassment. “So, why are we here? Other than you showing off how adorably clever you are?”

“Well, Mr. Wilder was right about the reason he gave, but that’s not all.” Walter’s eyes twinkled mischievously as he looked at Jack. “Go on, Mr. Wilder, let’s not have those two months of reconnaissance work go to waste, tell them why you are all here.”

Jack glared at Walter and looked at everyone but Danny. “He invented the ultimate computer chip that will unlock anything in the world, and he wants us to steal it back from the guys who stole it from him last year.”

“Yes,” Walter interjected bitterly. “They wanted it for themselves, so they humiliated me by exposing my private files to the board of directors and convinced them that I am unstable.”

“Oh, yeah? Did you take a picture of him while he was sleeping?” Danny quipped. Jack snorted.

Walter frowned, ignoring Danny’s comment. “Although, I could have given more drama and flair to that story, Jackie boy, but that will do,” he said grudgingly. “So what do you say?”

Henley scoffed. “Why, do you think, would we steal something for you?”

“Um, oh, wait, I had a reason. What was it? Oh, yes. You see, back home, you're wanted criminals. But with the tech you will get for me, I can control the police, the casinos, the media. I can give you a new life, out of hiding,” Walter ended with a shrug. “And if you don't, I'll have you killed.”

When he put it that way, it was a pretty convincing case.

But dear Lord, Jack Wilder was tired. He was tired of being someone else’s puppet, of putting his life on hold to do someone else a favor. He wanted to make a stand if not for the last time in his life.

“You know what? Screw this, and screw you,” Jack drawled, drawing himself up to his full height and facing Walter down. “I’m not going to do anything for you.”

Walter’s eyes flashed dangerously. “You sure about that, Mr. Wilder?” He nodded, and predictably, Danny felt the barrel of the gun against the side of his head. Jack’s heart leapt in his throat even as he saw Danny struggle to keep his eyes from rolling. “Are you really sure about that?”


	16. September 2008: #AtlastJack (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The moment they stepped out of the car, they had called an unspoken truce. It was all about the mission for now, and afterwards – they could go their separate ways for good. The last two years needn’t have happened, and he could forget everything away from here, as he already planned. It was surprisingly easy to fall in sync even with the addition of Jack in the team, and in the times that his four teammates looked at him with rapt gazes, hanging on to his every word and instruction, J. Daniel Atlas almost forgot just how bad things were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES: At last, Jack. #AtlastJack But we didn’t expect it to be that easy, did we? The infamous NYSM 2 heist ensues, but of course, wrought with a lot more tension, miscommunication, and juvenile misunderstandings between our boys for this imagining.
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.

_“You know what? Screw this, and screw you,” Jack drawled, drawing himself up to his full height and facing Walter down. “I’m not going to do anything for you.”_

_Walter’s eyes flashed dangerously. “You sure about that, Mr. Wilder?”_

_He nodded, and predictably, Danny felt the barrel of the gun against the side of his head. Jack’s heart leapt in his throat even as he saw Danny struggle to keep his eyes from rolling._

_“Are you really sure about that?”_

Danny hated being the damsel-in-distress, but at that point, he really wasn’t left with much of a choice. He tried to erase from his mind that Jack’s tan face had turned ashen when the gun was aimed on the side of his head, and instead tried to yawn indifferently.

“Classic,” Danny mumbled scornfully, clapping his hands lazily. “Take the ex-boyfriend hostage.”

Jack, if it was possible, turned even paler at the usage of the new noun. Danny pretended not to notice. “That’s rich. I’d give you a five for the suspense, probably a zero for originality.”

“You think I won’t call it, Mr. Atlas?” Walter’s eyes flashed dangerously.

“Daniel, can you please stop talking?” Jack cut in irritably, and Danny tried not to think about how Jack had called him ‘Daniel’. Jack never called him ‘Daniel’, apart from that first meeting two years ago. He rubbed his face irritably, turning to Walter, who regarded him with amused eyes. “Mabry, call your muscle off. I’ll do it.”

“Would you please STOP!” Lula said loudly, everyone turning to face her. She marched up to Jack and pointed a finger at him to emphasize her point. “You have always loved going off alone, doing shit no one knows about, and you think you can do it on your own, but you fucking can’t. So quit it with your “I”, Jack. I’m not letting you do shit on your own.” Danny bristled inside, somehow feeling that Lula had just stolen his lines.

Before he could say anything, though, Merritt gave a loud whoop and stood up, facing down the smaller scientist. “Well, if these two turtledoves are in it together, then I suppose I’ve got to extend my undying support.” Henley slid over to where the four stood in quiet assent.

Before anyone could put him on the spot, Danny stood up briskly and gestured toward the door. “So, Walter, pal,” he said dryly, the other four looking at him. “Could you get your boys to drive us to the nearest magic shop? It looks like we’d need quite a lot of supplies to get your little toy back.”

An hour later, they were in an ancient-looking magic shop, run by a Chinese elderly lady and her young grandson. The woman did not seem to understand English, and so Danny was forced to communicate with the grandson, Li.

“Could you get us these supplies, please?” Danny asked briskly, handing him a piece of paper. “We’re kind of in a rush to get them, so if we could just wait for it, that would be great.”

Li disappeared into the back of the shop to pick up the supplies, and once more, silence hung over them like a deadly virus. They had split up – Merritt had gone to get some food for them, Henley and Lula had gone to get them a change of clothes in the next room, seeing as they would be here for a while, which left him with Jack.

Jack cleared his throat. “Look, Danny—Daniel,” he corrected himself, and another tinge of sadness colored his insides at the correction. “I’m… I’m sorry. I thought you and I could go back to the way things used to be. That’s obviously not the case here. I burned you badly, and I know now that every day I was silent was every day you were tortured. I’m sorry I put you through that.” Danny said nothing, staring into space stoically. Jack ran his fingers through his hair and plowed on when Danny did not respond.

“I can’t imagine how hard it was for you, man,” Jack said gently, and Danny hated how detached Jack was trying to be. “I could only think of you every damn day, and curse The Eye every day for it. I didn’t want to lie to you, I didn’t want to stay away. But I thought it would be all worth it, that the job would be well-done and perfect, just how we wanted.” There was a painful pause as Jack slowly realized something. “And now, seeing how things worked out, if I had known back then that the job well-done would mean losing you, then I would have said no, in a heartbeat. But that doesn’t change the fact that I said yes. So for that, I’m sorry, Daniel.”

Almost three months without Jack had hardened Danny, surprising even himself. All the things he wanted to say – every foul word, every declaration of love, every imploration for him to never leave him again, every promise he told himself he would make if he had one more day with Jack – all these things were stuck on his throat, waiting, struggling, begging to be freed. He took several deep breaths, counting to ten, bracing himself for the impact of his words, hoping that it would make Jack understand what was going on in his head—

“Jeez, what is this thing and why is it stuck in my hand?!” Lula cried out as she entered the shop, a vase seemingly trapping her left hand.

Henley followed suit, two bags in tow, shaking her head. “I told you not to touch that, girl.”

Jack’s eyes left him, and just like that, Danny felt the moment dissipate into thin air, all the words left unspoken on his lips. He wanted to cry right then and there as the sleight walked over to where Lula was standing with a smile, gesturing for her to come closer to him.

“Here, let me help you with that.” He started to yank gently, frowning as the vase wouldn’t seem to come off. “Jesus.”

Danny shook his head and walked quietly into the other room, Henley following him with narrowed eyes.

The showman was taking deep and calming breaths in the corner of the other room, his back turned to Henley. As she approached him, though, she saw his back tense and his fists clench. Through gritted teeth, he said, “Stay away from me, Henley.”

“Sure,” Henley said sarcastically. “Get your act together, then, Atlas, because the sooner we finish this mission, the sooner you can get me out of your hair.”

He chuckled darkly. “You’re telling me to get my act together? Funny, funny,” he whispered, turning to her with wracked eyes. “Help me out here, because I wasn’t the one who lied to your face, Henley. I wouldn’t have allowed you to suffer if I had known what would have made it better. You want to know why? Because I trusted you, Henley, and you just spat that back into my face.” Danny was quivering in fury now. “So don’t tell me to get my act together for you, for Merritt, or for any of you, Henley, because you lost that right when you made me believe that the man I loved was dead!”

The escape artist’s eyes blazed. “Okay, fine, Atlas,” she said his name with venom. “I’m sorry I betrayed you. I’m sorry I made you believe in a lie. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you otherwise.” Tears fell from her eyes as she punched the table next to her. “But you know what? It wasn’t my lie to tell! I was never supposed to know! So here’s what I think – you’re fucking pissed, yes, at me, at Merritt, but you know what? You’re just pissed at Jack more than anyone else! He left you alone, and hurt, and confused. You knew that he knew you needed him, that maybe your little heart couldn’t take it without him, but he still chose to stay away, and that pisses you off.”

She wiped the angry tears from her eyes. “I watched you grieve over that man, mourn your loss, and get angry at him, at the world, at yourself, for so many months. I hated that we almost lost you at one point. So if you’re headed down that road again, then you’re right – the sooner we walk out of each other’s lives, the better. Because I don’t want to watch you go down that path I cannot follow and not be able to do anything about it.” With those trembling words, Henley flounced out angrily.

The ride back to Walter’s quarters was one wrought with tension and discomfort. Danny tried to ignore the fact that Lula was the only one trying to break the tension in their group, and Jack was the only who responded to her antics, albeit half-heartedly, but with a small smile nonetheless. His heart sank as he realized for the first time just how good they seemed to be for each other.

The moment they stepped out of the car, they had called an unspoken truce. It was all about the mission for now, and afterwards – they could go their separate ways for good. The last two years needn’t have happened, and he could forget everything away from here, as he already planned. It was surprisingly easy to fall in sync even with the addition of Jack in the team, and in the times that his four teammates looked at him with rapt gazes, hanging on to his every word and instruction, J. Daniel Atlas almost forgot just how bad things were.

“They always travel with two… bimbos,” Merritt supplied as he looked at the photos of the group they were going to impersonate for the mission.

“Oh, look at that. I wonder which among us gets to play the two bimbos,” Lula said dryly as Henley laughed.

Jack nudged Lula playfully. “You’ll make a beautiful bimbo,” he said helpfully, earning a slap from his best friend.

Well, Danny thought to himself as he looked away from the scene. Almost.

*

They found themselves in front of a pristine white building, and against himself, Jack found himself grinning as he removed the pair of Ray-Bans from his eyes. He took great care in putting back the Ray-Bans into its case, pocketing it while suppressing the sentiment that came with it. He shot a sidelong glance at Danny, who didn’t seem to notice or care about anything that Jack did at this point.

Taking a deep breath, he clapped his hands together. “So… are we going to do this, or what?” he said cheerfully.

A man with a thin moustache received them by the metal detectors. “Good afternoon. You might like to remove all your metal, standard protocol, you understand.” He frowned slightly as he peered at the quintet. “Excuse me, where might have I seen you before?” he asked, seeming to address Danny in particular.

Danny, of course, took it all in stride. “I don’t know, probably one of my many symposiums. Maybe my book jacket?”

“I have to say, Drs. Michaelakis, I’m a huge fan of your books,” the man plowed on with a small smile.

“Oh, thank you,” Danny adjusted his glasses. “Which book, exactly? There have been so many.”

Jack saw the narrowing of the man’s eyes as he surveyed Danny with disdain before fixing his gaze pointedly on Lula, and he snorted as he realized what was happening.

“Does your… chippy always talk for you, Doctors?” he asked Lula and – apparently – Henley.

Lula’s eyes widened by a fraction. “Doctors?” She glanced at Henley, eyeing her up and down. “Drs. Michaelakis?”

Jack couldn’t resist it, and hey – this was probably the only time he would ever be allowed to touch Danny without earning a punch to his face. He put a friendly hand on Danny’s bicep, squeezing very slightly, and he felt Danny tense for a split second before relaxing under his touch. “I’m sorry, when you say ‘chippy’, you are referring to Buffy here, right?” he said innocently.

“Of course,” the man said flatly.

Merritt chuckled. “No, as a boy toy, Buffy prefers the word ‘floozy’.”

“Noted, then,” the man droned on, turning his attention to the girls. “As I was saying, having the pioneers on quantum studies in this room is a huge honor, madams. And congratulations on your marriage, I’m very happy for you.”

Jack cleared his throat as Merritt stifled a grin and Danny’s eyes went wide. Henley, however, took it all in stride as she put Lula’s hand in hers with a sweet smile on her face. “Thank you, that’s very kind of you. It’s been—“ She looked at Lula with bright eyes. “—beautiful.”

“Dr. Lana,” he said easily, addressing Lula. “You had an email about our ability to maintain quantum coherence at room temperature without the use of dilution, refrigerators, or error correction. Do you care to elucidate?”

Henley nodded, nudging Lula. “Yeah, love, you did send that email.”

“Right,” Lula said breathlessly.

“I saw you. Or did you forget again?” Henley whispered playfully.

Lula shook her head. “No, no, sweetheart,” she giggled before turning to the man. “So—what gives?”

The man looked befuddled. “I’m sorry… what gives?”

“Come on,” Henley interjected impatiently. “Now, every seventh grader, even the dumb ones, know the second law of thermodynamics. ‘All ordered systems tend toward disorder’ – disorder! Wasn’t my wife clear on that?”

“I—I—“ the man bumbled.

“So I’m going to ask you one more time, sir – what gives?” Lula capped off loudly, earning a bug-eyed stare from the three men.

There was a pregnant pause, and for a while, Jack thought they were done. But the man smiled and nodded, saying, “Well, it's actually topological quantum order. The emergence of quantum effects on a macroscopic level. So that is, in fact, what gives.”

The two women looked at each other for a few seconds. Henley shrugged, and Lula nodded, turning back to the man with an innocent smile on her face. “Thank you,” she whispered before she took off her fur coat and helped Henley remove hers, taking Henley’s hand as they passed the metal detectors.

“You know,” Merritt said in a low voice as he, Danny, and Jack lined up to remove their personal effects. “Buffy’s not a bad name for you – buff… taut… firm…”

“Sure, that’s good,” Danny said through gritted teeth. “Did you just pull a thesaurus out of your ass?” Jack gave Danny a sidelong glance, suppressing his smile as best as he could.

“Nubile,” Merritt said suggestively, slapping Danny’s butt with his belt and winking at Jack from above Danny’s head. Jack rolled his eyes, trying not to think too much about how that made him feel.

“Okay, thank you,” the showman said in a clipped tone.

“There you go,” the mentalist said gruffly as he walked ahead, passing through the metal detectors.

Jack quickly followed suit, not wanting to hang back with Danny, and the metal detectors roared to life. He immediately felt himself pushed back and frisked by the guards, his… ex-boyfriend watching him carefully. The guards took his wallet and asked him to pass through again, this time with no difficulty. He hadn’t noticed that Danny had followed immediately, falling in stride with him.

“You okay?” Danny asked quickly, seemingly forgetting that he hated Jack’s guts.

Jack couldn’t bring himself to answer the question. Instead, he whispered, “The stick’s metal, how are we going to get it out?”

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Danny hissed back, shaking his head as they both entered the room.

As the plan started to unfold, Jack got to work. They had a lot riding on him. Henley covered for him as Lula exacerbated the distraction that Merritt brought on – he just needed a few more seconds, and—

“Gotcha,” he whispered as he took the chip and slid back from under the machine. Now all he had to do was play the innocent bystander.

“Search him,” the man with the moustache said crisply, his eyes on Jack. “Search them all.”

Apparently, it wasn’t enough.

Long, agonizing minutes later, the security team couldn’t find anything on them, thanks to their well-practiced card sequence – one that Danny and Lula got the hang of fairly quickly, one that Henley got after a few days of practice, and one that Merritt royally sucked at – they were close, so damn close to leaving, and Jack’s heart pounded at the thought of how they were going to get the stick out.

It didn’t help that Merritt was the last one in line, and that everything relied on his abysmal card-throwing skills.

He could see the girls’ eyes, wide with worry, and Danny was a picture of fake calm – but he knew better. He knew Daniel Atlas more than anyone did in this world, and he knew that pure panic raged inside their leader. Merritt looked at him with fear in his blue eyes, and Jack shook his head.

No, he couldn’t afford to doubt Merritt – he had come through for Jack in the last months, had dealt with the pain of being known as Jack’s murderer, almost losing the love of his own life just to protect his, and he was certainly going to come fucking through now. He couldn’t allow Henley and Lula’s efforts go to waste, he couldn’t see Danny going to jail, all because of one tiny chip that they couldn’t get out.

They were going to get out of here – together. Jack would make sure of that.

He approached the guard by the metal detectors. He saw Danny move toward the gong on the side of the entrance, and he smiled at how after all this time, they still seemed to be of one mind. Maybe some things didn’t need to change, after all.

“Sir, I think you still have my wallet. Remember I gave it to you? It would be nice to leave with it.”

Lula moved in place, understanding what Jack wanted to happen. Henley silently positioned herself next to the item basket, and looked at Merritt with encouraging eyes. Her gaze seemed to give him focus, and Jack saw the fear dissipate in his eyes.

“Wallet coming through,” the guard told the security desk.

It all happened simultaneously: Merritt threw the card perfectly, precisely, sending it flying across the metal detector and into Lula’s open coat; Henley knocked over the item basket into the metal detector; Jack’s wallet came through, all to the sound of a loud gong, which Jack knew Danny had struck loudly with his belt. He smiled to himself.

Damn perfect.

*

The car ride back to Walter’s quarters was an animated one: they were all riding on the high of a successful heist, their first as a team, and it was just perfect. Jack was laughing out loud as Lula impersonated the bumbling guard who had tried (and failed) to not look at her chest, shortly after she removed her bra, when the car suddenly stopped in the middle of the public market. The five looked around.

“Where are we?” Henley said cautiously.

Alarm bells went off in Jack’s mind as they stepped out of the car. “Guys—“

“Hello, hello,” came the thickly accented voice of Walter Mabry, who approached them with his usual team of muscle following him. “So you got it. Wonderful. Who has it?”

Danny raised the card in the air. “I do.”

“Splendid,” Walter said happily. “Now, don’t take this personally, but I’m going to have to ask all of you to leave Mr. Atlas and myself to conduct business.”

“Like hell we will,” Jack spat as he started to walk to Walter, but was immediately seized by a stronger pair of arms.

The scientist cocked his head, and the other three were seized and dragged away as well. “Yes, you will.”

It took a while, but some distance later, Jack was finally able to put his captor to the ground, and hurriedly disarmed Merritt, who instantly put the captors to sleep. He had no time to lose, though, and he ran furiously back to where he left Danny, who was shaking as he was about to hand the card over to Walter. Jack saw red when he realized that Walter’s men had already started beating Danny to a pulp, stopping only for Danny to give the the card.

He pushed all the men aside like a raging bull and slammed Danny against the wall, holding him by the front of his shirt. He heard Walter command the men to keep away from them, the little pervert, but more than that, he was aware of how close they were, and how much he missed this, and how fucked-up this all was—

“Did you really think I would walk away from you?” Jack said angrily, and purely out of impulse, shoved Danny roughly away from him, taking the stick from him and brandishing it in the air. “Give me the stick, give it, and beat it!” He gave Danny another shove, putting the card back in Danny’s front pocket. “Don’t ever question me again, you arrogant dick!” Jack pushed Danny into a door and slammed it almightily.

“Bravo, Mr. Wilder,” Walter said with a smile, his eyes flashing again. “So—the stick.”

Jack gave him a half-smile. “Go to hell.”

It was fun for a while, but on hindsight, he realized that he was just too tired to take them all on. Still, though, it was the better option: Danny couldn’t fight to save his own life, and probably wouldn’t have lasted longer than three seconds, and with two muscled men.

And hell, the world didn’t need one less Danny Atlas. He knew that better than anyone. It’s only just as fucking gorgeous as it was because of that guy, went Jack’s delirious thoughts.

He thought he saw the smirking faces of Walter Mabry and Arthur Tressler looking down on him, heard the sound of metal clanging on metal, and everything went black.


	17. September 2008: #AtlastJack (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the minutes passed, he felt tears coming to his eyes quickly: he couldn’t find him, he couldn’t find Jack, and there was nothing more he feared now than to lose Jack yet again. He lost him already so many times, that maybe if he lost him once more, Danny knew he was just going to break.
> 
> He gritted his teeth and searched on. He wouldn’t lose him. Not anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES: At last, Jack. #AtlastJack  
> But we didn’t expect it to be that easy, did we?
> 
> This is the last part of the #AtlastJack arc, after which we will dive into the next few months (and, by extension, the last few chapters). Nothing more will be said so as not to run the risk of spoiling the chapter, except that… this may or may not have a happy ending.
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.

_It was fun for a while, but on hindsight, he realized that he was just too tired to take them all on. Still, though, it was the better option: Danny couldn’t fight to save his own life, and probably wouldn’t have lasted longer than three seconds, and with two muscled men._

_And hell, the world didn’t need one less Danny Atlas. He knew that better than anyone. It’s only just as fucking gorgeous as it was because of that guy, went Jack’s delirious thoughts._

_He thought he saw the smirking faces of Walter Mabry and Arthur Tressler looking down on him, heard the sound of metal clanging on metal, and everything went black._

\---

“Guys,” Danny gasped out desperately as he reached the other three, who had tied up their would-be captors. “Guys, we have to go, they’ve got him, they’ve got Jack—“

“Atlas, shut up a minute,” Merritt snapped, his head craning over the cartons before them as he heard the familiar voices from a short distance.

He frowned as he spotted the Lionel Shrike safe being loaded into the truck – why would they need the safe for –

“Take this to the river, he’s waiting for it there,” one of the men said.

_Click._

\---

He was in the leaky safe that caused the death of one of the most famous showmen the country had seen – Jack Wilder thought, ironically, how high an honor for him to share that very safe that marked the last stand of the great Lionel Shrike.

Funny enough, the biggest news in his mind was not the fact that he was going to die alone tonight in a safe at the bottom of the river: it was that he was able to finally hold Danny close to him again, even for just a while, even if it wasn’t how he envisioned it. His ex-boyfriend’s breath was cold and smelled like peppermint, and it lingered in his mind even as he felt the pull of gravity take him from his flight and crash into the water.

\---

Danny drove like a madman, tearing through the streets like a lunatic. He was a man with a mission, and he didn’t have a lot of time to do it.

“Danny, you’re going to kill us!” Henley cried out.

“What’s your point if he gets killed?!” Danny roared, his rage and frustration now unchecked.

“Atlas!” Lula said sharply. “Jack won’t die. We won’t let it.”

Danny looked at her wildly, her blue eyes piercing his. He saw in her eyes the fear of losing the one person who ever mattered to either of them, but he also saw something else: he saw in her eyes the will to live, the steely determination to get out of it alive, to win no matter the cost.

It calmed him down, knowing he wasn’t quite alone in the world, at least not in that sense.

He wasn’t the only one who wanted Jack Wilder alive more than they wanted life itself.

\---

The first thing Jack registered was that the water was leaking quickly into the safe.

He thought morbidly that this is probably why Lionel Shrike didn’t survive that last trick, and a flash of despair filled him as he thought that he most likely couldn’t survive it, either.

 _You’re stupid,_ came a no-nonsense voice in his head. _I’d love to blow your brains out, if you had any._

He realized the voice was Danny’s, but it held no malice and venom in it. He could almost see the mischievous smirk on Danny’s face, looking up at him from their bed.

 _You’re Death itself. The fucking best sleight of hand the world has ever seen,_ the Danny-image continued to say. _What made you think you won’t survive this?_

Hell, even in his hallucinations, Danny was right – he always was.

There goes that smirk again. _Of course I am._

\---

Danny killed the engine and jumped out of the car. Without thinking, without planning for anything for the first time in his life, he took off his jacket and jumped into the water.

The river was surprisingly clear, and for the next few minutes, J. Daniel Atlas swam like a madman. Cutting the surface only to gasp in a fresh supply of air, he powered through furiously, looking for any signs of the man he needed to save, the man he needed.

His search continued, and he saw the other three running around the shore, looking for any signs or any hope that he might not be under the dark water. As the minutes passed, he felt tears coming to his eyes quickly: he couldn’t find him, he couldn’t find Jack, and there was nothing more he feared now than to lose Jack yet again. He lost him already so many times, that maybe if he lost him once more, Danny knew he was just going to break.

He gritted his teeth and searched on. He wouldn’t lose him. Not anymore.

He took another gasp of air before going even deeper.

\---

Air.

Jack had taken a lot of things for granted in his life, and now that he was bereft of one, he wishes that he didn’t. It was difficult to pick the lock without the air rushing through his lungs, helping him think, giving him focus.

But air wasn’t that important. He thought of the more important things he took for granted.

He thought of Merritt’s and Henley’s companionship, how they seemed to find stability in each other, and how they shared the stability they had with everyone around them. He thought of Merritt’s way into getting into your mind, and the many offers he made to read someone for free; he thought of Henley’s pancakes, the poorly cooked pieces of shit, which she was so proud of, which he had always found an excuse to decline. He wished he had told them ‘yes’ more often.

He thought of Lula, his best girl, his best friend. He thought of her wavy dark hair in the sunshine, her opal eyes, and rose red lips. He thought of how he took for granted how beautiful the world was because of her cheer, and her smile, and her laugh; he thought of how he never thanked her for keeping him in her life, even if he could not quite give her what she was looking for. He thought of how he never told her that a part of him would always be a little in love with her, and he wonders if he ought to, even once.

He thought of Lara’s daily texts, asking him if he had eaten his full three meals, which he often ignored. He wished he replied to each and every one of those texts, perhaps also asking her if she had done the same. Just because she was the big sister, she didn’t have to be the one to constantly look out for him.

He thought of his parents, the most perfect parents in the world, who worked to give him nothing but a good life, and was happy to be with him no matter the course he chose. He wishes he thanked them every day, and that he didn’t take for granted the small touches and gruff words spoken to him, about how proud they were to have him as a son.

He thought of Danny.

With his final breath, Jack Wilder smiled and slid against the safe door, which popped open.

As he closed his eyes, he thought he saw Danny’s face again, and he really did know that everything was okay.

\---

Ten feet below him, Danny saw movement, and he turned his light to it. His heart stopped as he saw a body slide out of a box and land on the bed of the river.

_Jack._

The swim downward was maddening, as if he couldn’t reach Jack fast enough. The body of the sleight was limp and heavy in his arms, and Danny swam up as fast as he could, holding Jack up, making sure that his head was the first to cut the surface of the dark water.

When he felt Jack leave his arms, he panicked slightly, thinking that he lost the sleight to the water again. But it had just been Merritt, who dove into the water with Henley to pull Jack to the ground.

When Danny joined them ashore, Jack’s eyes were still closed, and it didn’t look like he was breathing.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Danny hissed angrily as he pushed the other three aside. “You aren’t fucking doing this to me again, Jack Wilder, not— _now_ —not— _ever!_ ” He was pumping Jack’s chest like a maniac and blowing air into his mouth, again and again, until—

There was a sharp gasp as water spewed from Jack’s mouth. He coughed it out, eyes wide open, and was about to turn to his rescuers when two hands grabbed him on either side of the face and pulled him into the angriest, most desperate, most filthy kiss he’s ever had in his life, rendering him breathless once more.

The world turned funny in that moment for Jack Wilder, and he and Danny were the only ones in that world. There was no other sensation that mattered, that he could process, save for the lips he craved on his, melding, fusing, coming together like it should never come apart. Nothing else mattered but everything he had now: not the long absence, not the lies, not the secrets, not the pain of losing each other, not the pain of re-finding each other, not the idea of ever losing the other. All he knew was that everything that mattered was in his hands, and he wasn’t sure if it was the river water that left salty tracks on his cheeks, and that of the man in front of him. Perhaps it was.

He tried to break away, but Danny wouldn’t let him. He smiled underneath the kiss, gasping, “Air.”

The effect was instantaneous. Danny immediately stopped kissing him, though not letting go of his face, allowing Jack to breathe the air he did. He smiled up at Danny, who was looking at him with the most intense gaze. God, he missed those cerulean eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked gently.

Danny laughed nervously. “You’re asking me if I’m okay? Are you fucking crazy?”

Jack shrugged, smiling, not letting go of Danny’s face either. “Maybe.” An involuntary shiver ran through him, but almost immediately, a thick leather jacket wrapped him around the shoulders. He looked at the one who put the jacket there and smiled. “Hey, beautiful.”

Lula’s blue eyes were filled with tears as she looked at Jack. “You scared the shit out of us, Jack!”

“I know, I’m—“

“Don’t say you’re sorry, you stupid dork!” Lula said angrily, tears flowing freely now.

“It’s the least I could have done,” he said carefully.

“Oh, no, no, no, you stop right there, Jack Wilder,” Henley said sharply. “There’s a hell of a lot less that you could have done. That wasn’t an option.”

“But I—“

“YOU STUPID COW!” Lula cut in furiously. “If I never get to see your stupid face again, Jack Wilder, you have to drill it through that thick skull of yours that I will always fucking love you and I will probably never stop being ridiculously in love with you!” she said hoarsely, turning to Danny apologetically. “I’m sorry, Danny. I just had to say it.”

Danny shrugged, a pained smile on his face. “I can’t say I blame you,” he said shortly, his grip on Jack’s face tightening before he looked at Jack with the same intense gaze. “But you remember what I told you, right?”

The sleight gave a half-smile. “All the goddamned continents,” he said softly.

“I don’t care who loves you. Hell, I don’t even care if you even remotely love them back,” Danny said forcefully. “Because I will rip the world apart before I ever give you up, Jack Wilder, to anyone or anything. If I could find a way to bring you back from the dead in case you ever think about dying again, you know I would. I’m not losing you again, so if you have any stupid ideas to run off and play dead again, think again. You’re not going anywhere, Jack Wilder. I won’t let you.” He gulped the rest of his emotions down, just focusing on the man he held in front of him. “I’m sorry I thought I could let you go.”

Jack smiled weakly, planting a kiss on Danny’s forehead. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Maybe it was just the sheer exhaustion that overtook them, or maybe they were just tired of running, but when a sleek black car picked them up minutes later, they climbed aboard without any questions. They had no such qualms in doing so, either: it just seemed like the most natural thing to do, it felt right, it felt like – for the first time – they were headed somewhere definite.

The car stopped in front of Central Park a little more than an hour later. It was mercifully empty, even for two in the morning. Henley’s hand found Merritt’s, and Jack’s never left Danny’s, as they started walking to the middle of the park, not quite sure what they were looking for. Lula shivered very slightly, and Jack gave her a warm smile as he put an arm around her shoulder.

“This whole plan isn’t going to end with us getting mugged at two in the morning at Central Park, will it?” Merritt asked skeptically, looking around.

Henley shook her head. “No, this is where we’re supposed to be. We just have to find—“

Lula shone her flashlight at a tree, her eyes brightening. “That?” she offered.

It was the card in the tree – not just any tree, but the Lionel Shrike tree. Danny frowned – the cards… quickly, he pulled out his tarot card. The others followed suit, putting their cards together – The Lovers, Death, The Wheel of Fortune, The High Priestess, and The Hermit forming one single organism and shining the light into a dark corner of the park. The carousel came to life as soon as the light hit it, and they all walked tentatively toward it, only to find—

“Oh my God,” Merritt wheezed out when they saw who stood before them. “I did not see that coming.”

“No freaking way!” Jack crowed, laughing nervously. “That… that was actually pretty good.”

Agent Dylan Rhodes gave them a bashful smile from where he stood. “Thank you.”

Danny had a smile on his face as he raised a finger thoughtfully. “So when I said to always be the smartest guy in the room—“ he started.

“We were in agreement,” Dylan finished, a twinkle in his eye.

Danny nodded. “Okay. Right.”

“Henley, Lula,” the agent said with a charming smile, leaving both women gaping.

“Oh, I’ve never seen her speechless,” Danny supplied, gesturing to Henley.

“Obviously, you don’t know how to—oww!” Merritt’s lewd remark was cut off by an excited pinch from the redhead.

“Well, this one could catch flies with her mouth,” Jack laughed, watching Lula watch their mystery leader in awe.

Dylan chuckled. “I take that as a huge compliment,” he said easily, shaking the hands of both women.

Jack gave a start as he realized something. “Hey man, I’m sorry for kicking your ass, I really am,” he said contritely.

“Well, you had to pretend that you really died, so I think we’re quits,” the older man said gently. “I’m sorry for whatever pain that caused. To all of you. It had to be done.”

He was looking at Danny particularly when he said the words, and the showman felt himself swallow his anger and his despair as he looked at the man next to him. “You know what – it’s cool,” Danny said in a choked voice. “Just as long as this isn’t over yet.”

The secret magician gave a knowing smile. “It’s far from over, Daniel.” He gestured for them to come forward. “Come, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

They were taken to a safe house, with yet another set of new identities. Dylan promised to tell them all about their next mission tomorrow, but for now, persuaded them to rest—“You deserve some sleep after the insanity of the last days,” he told them as he closed the door behind him.

Jack scoffed. “More like, months.” He stretched and yawned, looking at his companions. “Well, I’ll see you in the morning, guys… guys?”

Everyone had magically disappeared into their rooms – Henley and Merritt in one, he assumed, and he caught the whip of Lula’s dark brown hair as the door to the second room closed. Only Danny was left with him outside, and he was looking anywhere but at the sleight. Jack cleared his throat.

“Danny—“ he started pacifyingly, wanting to tell him that it was okay, that they didn’t need to rush into this, that he wasn’t counting on anything, but was immediately silenced by Danny growling, pushing him roughly against the wall so hard that he swore the apartment’s walls shook.

“I know that tone,” the showman said in a deadly quiet voice. “And I also hope you know what I’m going to say.”

Jack let out a small breath, taking in every contour of Danny’s face, the ache of missing him being abated just by his mere presence. He shook his head. “We ain’t got no time to say nothing, Atlas,” he said in a low voice.

Danny cocked his head to the side. “I’ll show you, then.” He pushed Jack into an empty room clear across the others, slamming the door behind him, his mouth never leaving Jack’s even as they ripped each other’s clothes off, wanting to feel skin against skin, warmth on warmth.

Dear God, after two months of freezing from the grief of loss, Danny could swear he was on fire – a god damned raging inferno of life. He pushed Jack roughly into the bed, peppering him with kisses all over his body, making sure he quivered and groaned in all the right places, desperate to re-learn every new contour and jagged edge of Jack’s lithe frame.

He traced the map of New York in his mind and on Jack’s body, he created a new invisible country on his back, he set fire to the sleight’s soft spots with his lips—he couldn’t help wanting to drown, and lose himself in the perfection that was the body of the love of his life.

He found himself shuddering in pleasure when he took Jack with his mouth – hearing his boyfriend cry out his name again and again, tugging on what little hair he had, clawing Danny down the back…

When Jack had calmed down with jagged breaths and heavy panting, there was a dangerous steely look in his eye as he looked down at Danny, who gazed up at him innocently. In the lowest voice he had ever heard come from Jack, the sleight whispered, “My turn now.”

Danny never thought that coming apart at the seams could ever be as good as he did that night.

The sun had come out when they had finally settled against the bed, leaning into each other in quiet companionship. Danny was downright deliriously happy, unable to believe that he could have ever had this again, and he turned to Jack with narrowed blue eyes. Jack looked at him questioningly.

“No more secrets,” the showman said menacingly.

The sleight shook his head empathically. “You think I’m nuts?”

“I think you’re stupid, sometimes.”

Jack chuckled. “Fair point,” he acquiesced. He brought Danny closer to him, kissing his forehead. “But yes, no more secrets. No more fucked-up reconnaissance missions without you.”

Danny wagged his eyebrows. “No more anything fucked-up without me, period.”

Jack let out a hearty laugh. “Perv,” he said with a shake of his head. He looked at Danny with all sincerity in his brown eyes. “No more secrets from you, either, Atlas. No more holding back any of those little emotions you hate to show. Not to me.”

If it meant keeping Jack in his life?

It was a damn no-brainer.


	18. October 2008: Pygmalion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mighty J. Daniel Atlas would have him smacked him if he knew what was going on in Jack’s mind: right now, he was a marble piece of perfection, one that the sleight could only have dreamt of in his previous life, one that finally came to life because some goddess had taken pity on his then-pining heart. Not even the next calculated movements of his boyfriend could break the spell that had been temporarily cast on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re down to the last three chapters! On one hand, I’m a little sad to let go of this main arc, as it has served as my source of sanity for the last couple of months, but on the other hand, I decided I would do interludes based on the main story (so I’m really not letting go, after all). Prompts/requests will be much appreciated, so please do drop me a note in the comments section or email me directly at ficamaze@gmail.com.
> 
> Let’s start wrapping up loose ends with Chapter 18 – The Horsemen still have two shows, after all, the first being in 5 Pointz – this time, as the quintet we have grown to love. Let’s see how the five will mesh in the few minutes before their long-delayed show, but of course, my main priority is to try and show you guys where Jack and Danny pick up from here. Please note that this chapter doesn’t actually contribute much, and was written in bits and pieces over the last working week.
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.

Contrary to popular belief, Jack Wilder liked to think that he knew lots of things outside of magic, in fact more than most of his peers.

Not many people knew that he had grown up in a very nurturing household full of books and stories: he remembered the best times with his parents had been that of them taking the time every day to read he and Lara stories from all over the world. Before he discovered magic, it was reading that took him to places, and provided an inexplicable sense of comfort that had not been replicated by anything else in this world.

He liked to think that it was his only little secret, one that only his parents and sister knew about him. Even after almost two years of knowing with Danny and being with him a little over one, his boyfriend had taken for granted how he had chosen to be a literature major, thinking that Jack only went in it on a whim. He never bothered to correct Danny’s assumptions, preferring to keep to himself just how exhilarating it was to pore over written works, the exact translation of the inner workings of the human mind. The showman didn’t mean any harm, and anyway, it was hell of a lot easier to cruise along without the pressure and expectations of being a reader.

Their next appearance would be at 5 Pointz, revealing half of the things Jack had worked hard on getting and unravelling for the last three months, and it also marked their first real show as The Five Horsemen. As for their last show – well, Jack smiled to himself, they weren’t quite done with Arthur Tressler and Walter Mabry yet. He looked forward to that show: that would be a real spectacle to behold.

A few days before their appearance at 5 Pointz, Jack and the other four were standing in a circle, practicing their lines and exchanging ideas, when suddenly – as though struck by lightning – Danny had frozen in place, blue flames in his eyes, a beautiful smile on his face, the card he was toying with still in between his long fingers, as he did when he had a brilliant idea that he just couldn’t wait to see come to life, but this time, Jack was barely paying attention to what he said, because the reader in him was struck speechless.

_Did she seem warm to his touch, or was it just residual heat form the sunset that had warmed the stone?_

Jack remembered the first night they found each other again. He thought it would be difficult, he thought that too much had changed for them to ever return to the sweet ease of what they once were, he thought it would be different.

He was right – it was different. But it was so much easier, and so much had changed for the better the minute he had pushed Danny onto the bed they shared: there was a new vulnerability in their methods that was never quite present before, and a fresh hunger that he doubted could ever be fully satiated in the years to come. They had touched each other, explored every crevice and edge with the tips of their shaking fingers, their trembling lips, and had claimed each other just as carefully and just as swiftly, a silent promise of never letting go.

They had drowned and resurfaced so many times throughout the night, gasping for air only when the first rays of the early morning sun peeked into their room, wanting a glimpse of something that could light up the room just as well as its brightness could.

Jack often teased Danny for being cold: aloof façade aside, the man’s skin was ridiculously cold all the time, regardless of the weather. But now, as he nuzzled his partner’s whole body, inhaling deeply and registering his intoxicating smell and flavor, he thought he detected a faint layer of warmth that had not been there before.

He smiled. “So, you’re human,” he said softly.

He could almost hear Danny’s eyes rolling. “What are you going on about?”

Jack shook his head, planting a light and warm kiss on Danny’s inner left thigh, as cool as marble, and he was rewarded with a husky gasp. “Nothing,” he whispered.

_Did the statue’s lips seem soft?_

“Hey… Jack? Can we talk?”

It was about a week after Dylan had come back to them with instructions and the plan. The apartment was empty: Merritt and Henley had gone on a date, while Lula was out with her flavor of the week. Jack’s head snapped up at the unsure tone that was completely not his Danny. He frowned at the showman, who was fidgeting uncharacteristically. “What’s wrong?” he demanded immediately. Danny’s hands were restless, playing with a large coin, which was now deftly making its way across his fingers.

The sleight sighed, crossed over to where the showman was, and stilled his hands by clutching it with his own. “Danny,” he said firmly but gently.

Danny cleared his throat. “Sorry,” he said crisply. “You just… I just wanted to talk. Because… you told me you wanted me to… talk,” he finished lamely. Jack said nothing, allowing Danny to gather his thoughts for a few moments. Danny took a deep breath. “It’s about Lula.”

“Mmm.”

“She… she said she’s in love with you.”

“I heard her,” Jack said carefully.

Danny’s eyes searched Jack quickly. “Are you?” he asked gently.

Jack knew he promised not to lie to Danny ever – no more secrets, no more lies. Which is why he gave a little sigh, saying, “I think some part of me will always be, Danny,” he admitted carefully, forcing himself to look Danny in the eye. “She was my best girl, and she’s my best friend now.”

The blonde’s blue eyes were sad and resigned, and there was the minutest trembling of Danny’s lips. He turned his gaze to Danny’s lips, which had always been soft against his own, tasting like peppermint and smelling like candy. “I’m sorry. It’s probably not what you wanted to hear. But I told you I would never lie to you,” Jack said quietly.

Danny shook his head, a tight smile on his face, his eyes shining suspiciously. It was during moments like this that Jack fully appreciated how only he was allowed to witness the humanity behind his lover, his partner, his best friend. He told himself he would never squander such a high privilege.

“And I did tell you that it doesn’t change anything,” the showman said decisively, clutching Jack’s biceps tightly, pulling the sleight closer. They were so close that their lips brushed as Danny spoke. “Sorry for the morbid curiosity. And… well, I’m sorry, but… I’m never going to wave the white flag when it comes to you.”

Jack smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he whispered, the feather sensation of lips against his giving him the chills. “Thank you for talking, Danny.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Jack,” Danny said simply before finally putting his ridiculously soft and warm lips over Jack’s, silencing any response effectively.

_Did there appear the glow of life from within the marble form? Was he imagining it?_

_Galatea._

The mighty J. Daniel Atlas would have him smacked him if he knew what was going on in Jack’s mind: right now, he was a marble piece of perfection, one that the sleight could only have dreamt of in his previous life, one that finally came to life because some goddess had taken pity on his then-pining heart. Not even the next calculated movements of his boyfriend could break the spell that had been temporarily cast on him.

Danny, as usual, didn’t miss a beat. He looked over at Jack questioningly, a little crease appearing in between his eyebrows. “My eyes are up here, Wilder,” he deadpanned, but Jack knew that was meant in jest. “You back on earth to join us mortals?”

Jack carefully put the thought at the back of his mind as he shook his head. “I’m just hungry, man,” he drawled impishly. “Can’t we get a break or something?”

“You just ate half a rack of ribs, Jack,” Henley said incredulously. “Where do you put it all? It’s not fair.”

“Well…” Jack wagged his eyebrows at Danny suggestively, earning a groan from Henley.

“Okay, I did not need to know that!” she protested, covering her ears.

“Oh, come on, Henley, you probably know what Jack’s talking about, given your history with Danny,” Lula said impatiently. “You know it’s a bit legit, given that both of them are still as thin as they’ve ever been—“

“Hey, can we not talk about what Atlas and Jack-o possibly get up to for them to keep themselves fit?” Merritt protested loudly.

“Yeah, why don’t we talk about the… oh! I almost forgot!” Henley said excitedly, reaching for something in her bag.

\---

“God, I missed this,” Jack said in an excited whisper as he broke the kiss, gasping for air. “This is the kind of thing I was initially looking forward to at the start of all this insanity.”

A pair of blue eyes rolled in response to the remark. “You’ve been saying that since we got here.”

Jack gasped in mock horror. “How can you not enjoy this, Danny?”

Danny scowled. “Really, being stuck in a closet with an irritating twat?”

The snarky remark was met with a one-sided grin. “A dark closet, at a full liberty to make out with said irritating twat, college-party style, Atlas. Don’t forget those important details.”

“Just because it’s impossible for me to leave you, it doesn’t mean I can’t get sick of you.”

Jack chuckled as his eyes adjusted to the dark. “Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that, Atlas. You know you love me.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “And isn’t that your favorite thing to hold over my head,” he said impatiently as he quickly struggled to bring their lips back together.

“Are you guys decent in there?” Lula called out loudly from the closet door, showing up right the next second.

The sleight sighed exasperatedly as both he and the showman’s eyes adjusted to the light. “Apparently, it doesn’t really matter, does it, Lula? What with you barging in the same time you ask that question.”

The self-decapitator waved her hand impatiently. “There’s not much about you that could scar me for life, anyway, Jack-o,” she said casually.

Danny suppressed a sigh: since Lula had admitted her lingering feelings for Jack, it had been easier to take her offhand comments, but if he were to be honest with himself, it still bothered him at times, though he did admit that being honest about it with Jack helped ease the burden.

“Cut it out, Lula,” Jack said sharply. “Last I checked, Seven Minutes is only for two people, not three.”

“If you two had any sense of time, you would have known that Seven Minutes was done about fifteen minutes ago. We have to go now,” she said urgently.

Immediately after the river fiasco, Dylan’s first order of business was to lay out the timelines and plans for them for at least the next three months, something which Danny had been grateful for – it was a semblance of organization, something he didn’t have to draw up himself, and he was relieved for the break he had been given.

All five of them had been enrolled in Queens West College, and this time, they were told, it would be for good. They used completely new identities in campus, identities that did not at all talk about magic of any kind. Due to their lost records in Octa, though, they had to start as freshmen again, something which none of them – not even Merritt – minded in the least. It was the most refreshing thing for Danny, and if he picked up anything from the last year, really, it was how much he appreciated the normalcy of college life, where the biggest issue he faced was whether he would go on a private date or a college party with his boyfriend.

Having several members of The Eye in the Board of Directors, Danny found, was one consideration The Eye had in selecting the school for them: they were still, after all, the Horsemen, and were bound to disappear ever so often for an expose mission. It would make their absence unnoticeable, and their excuses acceptable when they did return. As Dylan was explaining their unique situation, Danny was once more filled with a grateful surge that the FBI agent had taken care of things for them.

Life was definitely good for Daniel Atlas right now. He looked at his boyfriend, who was practically bouncing with excitement as they walked down the full pavement away from the large house, and in the moment, Danny thought that maybe this is what it was like to have it all.

Henley and Merritt were already sidled up next to each other in the sleek black car that had been sent for them, running through their lines and positions. It was time for their 5 Pointz show, something that Danny had looked forward to for the last month: it was their first show as the new quintet, and the perfect opportunity to rub in everyone’s faces that they were alive and very much kicking.

This was, however, just a little sideshow in preparation for the main show on New Year: he owed Walter Mabry and Arthur Tressler a little comeuppance for what they very nearly did to Jack, after all. Just remembering how very nearly he had lost Jack sent a shudder down his body. He cast a glance at Jack and involuntarily held the sleight’s hand, as though reassuring himself that Jack was still there.

Jack looked at him gently, squeezing his hand back before looking at the rest of the team. “You guys ready to take the world on again?” he asked.

More than an hour later, the stage was set up. It had taken all of one tweet from each of them for the word to spread, and in ten minutes tops, 5 Pointz was full of people.

Jack huffed out a breath as he excitedly paced the room. “I’m so nervous, and we aren’t even actually going to be there,” he gushed.

Lula cleared her throat. “Well, I heard that when you’re nervous, you… uh… picture each other naked.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “It’s actually to picture the audience naked, Lula.”

She shook her head. “No, no, this is… this is a new science. One that, of course, I won’t be able to do, since I’m the only one in this group with no one to picture naked,” she said dryly.

Henley ribbed her with a wink. “Aww, come on, honey, is the magic of our marriage wearing out so quickly already?” she teased. “I’m hurt.”

Merritt cleared his throat. “Daniel?”

Danny looked up at the mentalist with a raised eyebrow. “Yes?”

The older boy fidgeted. “I just thought that in this rare moment of vulnerability and sentiment, I ought to tell you something that’s been on my mind for quite a while now.”

The showman cocked his head, a half-smile on his face. “Okaaaay,” he said easily.

“Well, when I first met you, I thought you were a…” Merritt paused, suppressing a smile.

“Hmm?” Jack egged on, his eyebrows wagging.

“…a dick.”

Henley snorted in laughter, shaking her head and nudging Merritt playfully. “And…?” she prompted.

Merritt’s eyes widened, as though genuinely surprised at her follow-up question. “Oh, no,” he said. “That’s it.”

“Oh,” Danny replied flatly, though there was a twinkle in his eye. “I’m touched.”

Merritt smiled cheekily. “Well, it’s from the heart.”

Danny shook his head. “I didn’t tell you where I was touched.”

Lula looked at the other four, a nostalgic smile on her face. “Seriously, guys, what are we going to do after all of this is over?” she said quietly.

Jack poked her playfully. “You’re getting a bit too sentimental, Ms. May.”

“It just sucks that I have a grand total of two shows, and we’re done,” she said bitterly.

Danny’s blue eyes shone as he looked at her. “And who says we’re done?” He cast his eyes to meet Jack’s, and a real smile appeared on his face. “We are far from over. If I have to go knocking on Dylan’s door for new missions for the rest of our lives, I’d do it.”

“Whoa, someone’s getting a touch too sentimental for me!” Merritt crowed. “Now come on, let’s get on with our show before we lose whatever emotional dignity we have.”

The first sound that greeted them was the din of adoration and amazement. Lights filled the whole packed place, and Jack suspected that the fact that he and Danny went out hand-in-hand further added to the excitement of the crowd. In the next seconds, he was proven right: the cheering crowd started a low chant that he was only able to decipher later on as “AtlastJack”.

He bit his lip in amusement, looking at Danny to comment on the hype of the crowd, but immediately, whatever words Jack wanted to say vanished into thin air as Jack took in Daniel Atlas in his element: there was so much life and excitement in his boyfriend’s blue eyes, a light blush creeping on his cheeks, his hand warm under his. But however amazing Danny was, there was nothing more amazing than the fact that – shockingly – he was Jack’s.

_Jack’s._

“Hello, New York!” Henley started enthusiastically. “Thank you for the magic, and thank you for being such an incredible and dedicated audience!”

“Unfortunately, like all good things, it must come to an end,” Merritt continued, taking Henley’s outstretched hand. “So we would like to start tonight’s show by saying goodbye… for now.”

It was his line. He paused, and Danny looked at him in light alarm, thinking that he forgot his lines. Maybe he did, for a bit – he would swear up and down in that moment that he even forgot his name. Jack supposed there was just too much of a good distraction next to him.

Jack smirked, first at Danny, then at the audience. “All we wanted to do was to bring the world to a magic show—“

“—and thereby bring a little magic back into the world,” Danny continued smoothly, his eyes never leaving Jack.

“This has been amazing, and one hell of a ride,” Lula said, her voice breaking slightly. “But it’s time for us to disappear… but never for good.”

“We’ll see you very soon… after all, we have a bone to pick with some old friends,” Henley said deviously, causing another uproar among the crowd.

“Good night, New York!” Merritt said with the tip of his hat.

“And thank you for believing in us!” Jack cried out, waving to the crowd before the five of them ran off into the lights, disappearing with the same gusto as wild, crazy fireworks shooting across the sky.

\---

“We’ll see you very soon… after all, we have a bone to pick with some old friends.”

Three thousand miles away, Walter Mabry turned off the television set with shaking hands. For the first time in his life, he was well and truly afraid. He took several deep and calming breaths before picking up the phone and placing it on his ear.

“Hello?” came a thick voice on the other end of the line.

“Dad,” he said as calmly as he could. “They’re coming.”

Dead silence. Walter cleared his throat. “Dad, did you hear me? They’re—“

“Then let them come,” came the sharp snap of Arthur Tressler’s voice. “Don’t call out the obvious to me, boy. And suck it up. We’ve got work to do.”

 _Click._ The line went as dead as thought he would be very soon. Walter stared at the phone in his hands, wondering what it is they could possibly do to beat the Horsemen, once and for all. He comforted himself with the thought that they couldn’t harm him – they couldn’t possibly bring down Walter Mabry, under any circumstance.

Could they?


	19. November 2008: Certain Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Most people would have bristled at his words, but Lula liked to think that she knew Daniel Atlas better than most people at this point. She knew him well enough to detect no arrogance in his words, or to know that it didn’t matter to him not because he thought he was better than her: she knew that to Danny, all that mattered was the happiness of the person they both loved most in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 19, and then it’s time for the main story finale! Let’s bring in the Horsemen’s “friends” into the mix in Chapter 20 and send them off with a bang for the last chapter: for now, allow me to indulge myself and the Horsemen with some good old college fun and drama.
> 
> This chapter is inspired by the wonderful song “Certain Things” by James Arthur. The full story may not be aligned with the tonality of this beautiful piece of music, but I assure you, it was on repeat when I was jotting down my thoughts for this story – so much so that it factors in greatly in one part that brings on the nostalgia. Just read on and see.
> 
> The usual drill: I cannot stress these points enough, so I will put these at the start of every chapter:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.

All in all, Lula’s life in the recent months had exploded in her face: she had absolutely no success getting through her first semester in college, she was living the life of a stranger, and sometimes she was virtually alone within the group of people who was more family than friends to her.

To her, however, the biggest explosion was the realization that the man she loved, her best friend, would never be able to give her what she wanted, not when he already found himself taken so utterly by an absolutely crazy man who would raze the face of the earth to be with Jack: seeing them together every day reminded her as much.

Life had exploded in her face, but she really wouldn’t have it any way: Lula was ridiculously happy.

Maybe she was just as crazy as Jack’s crazy man was, after all.

As though he could almost hear her thoughts or feel her staring at him, Danny’s eyes snapped up to meet her gaze across the table. Lula’s gaze flicked very quickly to where a quietly chuckling Jack was in the middle of the room, completely engrossed in a thick book, before meeting Danny’s eyes again quizzically. What the hell is that man doing?

The showman’s lips turned upward in a slight smile, and he shook his head slightly. Trust me, I wish I knew, his exasperated eyes practically screamed.

And now, she and J. Daniel Atlas understood each other when it came to Jack Wilder. Yup, definitely crazy.

At that moment, Henley excitedly bound into the room, waving a yellow flier in the air, Merritt following suit, eyes rolling to the high heavens.

“Good class?” Danny asked dryly.

Merritt plopped down on the couch lazily. “Nah, party invite.”

Henley looked around at the group exasperatedly: Merritt had his eyes closed, already quickly on his way to a nice, long nap; Danny was looking at her blankly; Jack didn’t even seem to notice that she and Merritt had arrived. She turned to Lula, who seemed to be the only one who was actually interested.

“You seem to be the only one game, Lula. What do you say?”

Lula shrugged. “Well, when is it?”

“Tomorrow night!” Henley said excitedly. “Look, the auditorium is just two blocks away, and it’s a big enough party for us to not be noticed no matter how drunk we actually get.”

The self-decapitator’s eyes wagged mischievously. “Open bar?”

Those two words seemed to finally catch Jack’s attention: he stopped reading and looked up very suddenly, finally noticing the presence of new people in the room. “Hi Hen, Mer,” he said quickly before looking at Lula. “You were saying something about an open bar?”

Danny bristled. “Hey—“

“Yes,” Henley cut in quickly, flashing Jack an eager smile. “School-wide party tomorrow in the auditorium, big enough to do whatever the hell we want.”

Danny held up a hand. “We aren’t actually going to a party at this point, are we?”

“Why not? The last party we went to had a delightful aftermath,” Jack said with a wink.

The memory of colorful lights and the dingy smell of an alleyway came back to Danny, and immediately he felt a blush creeping up to his face. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it.

“Well, I don’t think it’s a good idea, that’s all,” Danny said lamely.

“Why, Danny? Scared that some random dork will run off with Jack again?” Henley said in jest.

Lula flinched, immediately feeling the tension that crept into the group. She watched as Merritt sat up from his recline on the couch; Henley’s eyes widening, realizing what she said too late’ Jack shooting a death glare at Henley before turning to Danny, whose face was suddenly the picture of blankness. After a full five seconds of silence, Danny stood up wordlessly and walked out of the apartment, closing the door gently behind him.

Henley looked at Jack with worried eyes. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t—“

The sleight shook his head. “It’s not your fault, Hen, but… try not to do that again,” he said with a sigh as he started to stand. “I better go after him—“

Merritt stood up and blocked Jack’s path, shaking his head. “Jack-o, trust me when I say that you’re probably not the right person to talk to Atlas right now,” he said gently.

Before Jack could protest, Lula stood up and walked to the door. “I’ll follow him,” she volunteered, not waiting for a response from the others.

Merritt turned to Jack, who sat back on his chair resignedly. “Everything okay with you and Atlas?”

Jack chuckled. “’Okay’ is an understatement. Try ‘infuriatingly perfect’,” he replied. “I don’t know how to convince him that the boyfriend he had wasn’t replaced with one made of glass.”

Henley walked over to Jack and sat on the arm of his chair, putting an arm around him. “He lost you for three months, Jack,” she said quietly. “You need to give him some time. He thought he lost you for a good three months – I doubt he’ll get over that anytime soon.”

“Well, God forbid that the mighty Atlas does anything haphazardly, let alone getting over a tragedy,” Merritt said dryly, but Jack recognized and appreciated his friend’s attempt to lighten the mood. The mentalist looked at the apartment door. “I have to say, Lula surprises me sometimes.”

Jack looked at Merritt. “How?”

“Comforting the boyfriend of the love of your life? That can’t be easy.”

“I’m not—“ Jack protested.

“Not yet, Jack,” Henley cut in quietly. “But maybe one day, you won’t be.”

Jack took a deep breath. “She’ll be okay, won’t she?”

Merritt smiled. “I suspect she will be, as long as you are.”

 

&&\--&&\--&&\--&&

 

It turned out that Danny didn’t go too far: he was seated on one of the benches in the park across their apartment, and turned to look at Lula as she sat on the other end of his bench.

As she turned to look at him, the showman looked away, a dry smile on his face. “Jack sent you because Merritt thought it wouldn’t be a good idea for him to talk to me,” he declared.

“Nice try, Sherlock, but I volunteered,” she retorted.

A few seconds of silence passed. “I see,” Danny hummed lowly. “Right about everything else, though?”

Lula rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” she said begrudgingly. “You see everything, oh great Atlas.”

The showman chuckled. “Don’t I wish.”

More silence and the chill of the air engulfed the pair. Though Lula – for once – didn’t know what to say, she thought it wasn’t too bad, sitting in silence with the person she had long regarded as her rival, her nemesis of sorts, but only for one reason – one person.

Dealing with her lingering feelings for Jack had gotten progressively easier: seeing him happy with Danny, her casual dates on weeknights, and being extremely busy juggling Horsemen practices and collegiate commitments helped increase her peace of mind. Sure, it didn’t eradicate whatever it was she held, but hey, baby steps— 

“He loves you too, you know,” Danny said unexpectedly after a long stretch of silence.

Lula gave a start, snapping out of her thoughts. “Sorry?”

Danny gestured aimlessly, clearing his throat. “Jack… loves you too,” he said in a clipped tone.

Lula blinked, unable to figure out where this conversation was going, or what was even the appropriate response to his no-nonsense statement. There were a lot of things she wanted to say: how it obviously wasn’t enough, and how it didn’t need to be; how she was never going to attempt to give Jack the happiness Danny seemed to effortlessly give, even if she died trying; how that wasn’t relevant to keeping Jack safe and protected from the rest of the big, bad world. But for the life of Lula May, all she could say was, “Oh.”

Danny looked at her. “It doesn’t matter to me, Lula,” he said quietly.

Most people would have bristled at his words, but Lula liked to think that she knew Daniel Atlas better than most people at this point. She knew him well enough to detect no arrogance in his words, or to know that it didn’t matter to him not because he thought he was better than her: she knew that to Danny, all that mattered was the happiness of the person they both loved most in the world.

“I know,” she said simply.

Danny’s mouth quirked in a smile. “So you understand.”

“I won’t pretend I do, not all of it,” she said quickly. “But I think I understand enough.”

Danny looked down at his gloved hands, restlessly shuffling a deck of old cards. “It’s… I go back to June sometimes. And I wonder how I survived it,” he admitted.

“I think everyone did,” Lula agreed. “I remember seeing you in that old dump for the first time since the stage. You weren’t so easy on the eyes,” she admitted, causing Danny to chuckle quietly.

“Trust me, I looked a lot better than I felt,” he assured her.

Lula made a face. “That’s hard to imagine. Eww,” she said jokingly.

He gave her a small smile, which gave way into a gentle frown. “How did you… I mean…”

“News,” she said crisply. “They didn’t even hold a memorial for him in school. They didn’t want to honor the memory of a _criminal_ ,” she spat, surprised at how the memory of his loss angered her even until now. She cleared her throat, bringing herself back to the situation. “It got better, though, with you guys. I know I was a horrible replacement, probably the one person who would remind you most of Jack. And it didn’t help that my card was a jibe at the whole situation: I slapped Dylan on the arm one time when I remembered I was the Wheel of Fortune.”

“Thank you,” Danny said, shaking his head.

“It was my pleasure,” Lula smiled. There was a pause, then she asked, “Danny?”

“Mmm?”

“You know we won’t let anything happen to Jack, but you know you’ve got to lighten up on him, right?” she said gently. When Danny said nothing, she continued, “He’s in a much better position to take care of himself than the rest of us are, to be honest.”

“Martial arts and card throwing won’t save him all the time, Lula,” Danny snapped, albeit tiredly.

“No, but we will,” Lula retorted defiantly. “You, most of all.”

Blue eyes connected with blue eyes, and a long and silent understanding passed between the pair. It started with Lula gasping out a light giggle, Danny chuckling, until it escalated into honest-to-goodness laughter that seemed to cement something between them that had certainly not been present before.

“Lula? Atlas?” came a voice from behind them.

The pair turned around to meet the curious gaze of Agent Dylan Rhodes, who was wearing a black jacket and a bonnet, rendering him unrecognizable to the average passersby at first glance. Lula squealed with delight and ran to the agent, giving him a quick hug, and Danny walked over with a smile on his face, taking the hand the man offered to him.

“You here for the mission, Dylan?” Danny asked, unable to keep the excitement from his voice.

Dylan gave a small smile. “Well, I’m here mostly for you guys. I needed to check up on you with some—“ An old woman and a tall man appeared behind him, with similar smiles on their faces. “—some old friends.”

“Hello, Daniel. Hello, Lula,” the familiar Chinese old woman said warmly. “It seems like quite a while since I last saw you. You have both changed.”

“Oh, she speaks English. Of course she does,” Danny said under his breath, causing Lula to nudge him into silence.

Dylan gestured sheepishly to the house. “Would you mind inviting us in? It’s freezing out here.”

Fifteen minutes later, they found themselves all crammed in the small apartment living area, packets of cocoa, coffee, and tea strewn on the table, along with several small cups filled with hot water.

“First of all, it’s time for me to blow my cover,” Dylan started by throwing in a tarot card in the middle of the table: The Fool. “I received instructions from The Eye, and I’m going to expose myself for our next mission.”

Henley choked into her cup, while the other four looked at him with wide eyes. “Way to start a conversation, Agent Rhodes. And very fitting card for you, then,” Merritt said flatly. “Any proposals, then, how we’re going to actually fool one of the greatest technological geniuses into going down on his knees for whatever it is we have?”

“Dylan, let’s be serious here: how will that work? You’re—we’re safe while you’re under the radar,” Henley asked, fear creeping up into her voice.

“Yeah, I mean, come on, man,” Jack interjected. “We’re not _that_ good. We need you there. We can’t do this without your help, without the resources you have.”

Before Dylan could reply, the small Chinese woman answered gently, “Did you really think you don’t have help?” They all turned to her as she picked up Dylan’s tarot card.

_Fresh hope, chances, beginnings._

“Do you know why The Fool is the most powerful card in the tarot?” Her eyes laid on Dylan, who was watching her intently, trying just as hard as the rest of the team to make sense of the situation. “Not because the person who draws him is a fool – it’s because he’s a clean slate, and therefore, can be anything.”

“You were chosen – all of you,” Li said in a very matter-of-fact fashion. “Not because of who you are, but because of who you might become.”

“Hold up, when you say ‘chosen’, are you… a part of The Eye?” Lula asked, frowning.

The old woman nodded. “Yes, we are,” she said. “You’ve each doubted our existence, wondering if we were ever watching, if we knew all you had given to our cause.” She looked around the room, her soft eyes lingering first on Danny, whose eyes were shining suspiciously, then longer on Jack, who had a half-smile on his face.

“Well, we are watching. We always have been,” she continued. “We know everything each of you gave up for this mission. And you have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that you deserve everything The Eye can offer you.”

“I knew I walked into the best magic shop in the world that day,” Danny said with a grin as Dylan reached out and took the old woman’s hands in his, shaking them gratefully.

“Well, let’s not sit around and waste time here – let’s get to work!” Merritt said cheerfully.

As the others started to dive into the plans, the elaborate and thrilling set-up made especially for Arthur Tressler and Walter Mabry, Jack felt a tap on his shoulder, and he spun around to face Danny, who wordlessly offered him his hand. He took the showman’s hand without hesitation, allowing himself to be led out of the apartment and into the hallway.

Danny’s eyes were shifty, unable to meet his own rapt gaze, and Jack felt his hands trembling under his. The sleight tightened his grip on Danny, not saying anything, waiting patiently for his boyfriend to find the words he was looking for.

Seemingly finding the confidence, Danny took a deep breath and looked Jack in the eye. “I’m scared that something bad will happen to you. I can’t stop thinking about it,” he admitted quietly.

The brown-haired man smiled and bumped their foreheads together. “I know you are, and thank you,” he acknowledged gently. “But Danny, I’m not made of glass. You have to remember that we signed on for this, for life. I knew the risks, and I’m taking them. We’re taking them.”

“I know that. But I hope you also know that you can’t save us or yourself all the time,” the blonde man replied immediately. “You can’t… I mean—“ He stalled, seemingly lost for words.

Jack laughed quietly. “I know I can’t save you or myself all the time. But I do know that each time I can’t, you will.” He planted a small kiss on Danny’s lips, awed at how it never seemed to get old. “Won’t you?”

Danny’s eyes blazed. “Damn straight I will.”

 

&&\--&&\--&&\--&&

 

“Admit it, Atlas, this isn’t half-bad.”

Danny rolled his eyes to the heavens as they moved further in to the dance floor, drinks in hand. “Never to you, Henley.”

Henley grinned cheekily, flipping her fake black hair. “I’ll take it!” She turned to Merritt, who was surveying the crowd of college students carefully, and she sighed exasperatedly. “You, sir, should not be psychoanalyzing anyone tonight.”

“Where would our darling mentalist be if he wasn’t completely psycho… analyzing everyone?” Lula said innocently, something catching her eye from across the room. “Oh, you know what, I see… erm… I’ll see you guys later, okay?” Without waiting for anyone to respond, Lula disappeared into the crowd.

Jack stalled, a confused look on his face. “What was that all about?”

Despite the fact that none of them had gotten much sleep the night before, what with all the excitement of planning for their London show – their last for a while, they had been told – Henley had dragged them all out of the apartment to join the campus party, insisting that they needed to “really get drunk with extensive extra-curricular involvement”. Danny translated this as Henley-speak for “let’s get ridiculously drunk and have a good time”.

“Connor Yates,” Henley said peevishly, biting her lip.

“The graffiti artist?” Danny supplied. “String bean with dark and curly hair, glasses?”

Jack narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. “How do you know him?”

“Oh, please,” the showman scoffed, but he couldn’t stop a small grin finding its way on his face. “Lula and I have Biology with him. He’s been particularly attuned to Lula since the first day of class. And, well… I have a thing for string beans with dark hair. They’re usually pretty sexy,” he deadpanned, earning a punch from Jack in the arm.

“I’m not a string bean!” Jack protested.

Danny smiled, patting Jack’s cheek with his hand. “Sure, you’re not,” he said patronizingly. “Relax, Wilder.” He frowned up at Jack’s hair, which was now completely obstructed by a blonde wig. “You know, I’m not sure I like you so much as a blonde.”

As if to contradict his point, two girls passed the group, looked at Jack appreciatively, and waved. “Hi, Ken,” they called out alluringly before melting into the crowd.

Danny sighed loudly. Jack grinned and looked at his boyfriend, fixing the thick spectacles and touching the light beard that was obscuring his sharp features. “You were saying, Jason?” Jack asked in a low voice.

Danny grimaced. “Oh, that really is gross. I can’t get used to it.”

Suddenly, the low bass lines cracked and transitioned into a smooth, steady melody that sent the frenzy calming down. And almost instantly, he found himself in Jack’s arms, and Daniel Atlas never felt safer.

“I’ll parrot your advice back to you: relax,” Jack’s gentle voice whispered right into his ear. Danny suppressed a shudder: Jack’s lips were cool, in contrast to the heat of his skin, and Danny caught the faint smell of alcohol mixed with the musky scent that was distinctly Jack’s, a smell that he never thought he would never be acquainted with. The sensation was absolutely addicting. “Atlas, you don’t seem to be taking your own advice.”

Something kept Danny firmly in place, and suddenly, as though from a familiar dream or memory, the lines between want and need were completely blurred. All shyness and hesitation had disappeared between them: Jack’s touch was warm, strong, confident, demanding Danny’s entire being to stand fast next to his as he intertwined their fingers together.

It was _perfect_.

“I don’t know, Jack, maybe I need you to help me relax,” the showman croaked as he chanced a glance at their intertwined fingers. Had this been Jack’s world a year ago, when he had taken that chance on the only other dance floor they had ever shared?

Jack smiled against the left side of Danny’s neck as he whispered, “Let’s see what I can do.”

_Something about you  
It's like an addiction  
Hit me with your best shot honey_

“Hey, I have a question,” Jack grinned as they both swayed to the music, everyone else just as lost in their own worlds as they were right now.

Danny cocked his head graciously. “I might regret answering it, but please, hit me.”

“Last year… what brought that on?”

Danny frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Jack shrugged. “You know… what happened on the dance floor. You weren’t nearly drunk enough, and before that… well, I didn’t think you and I would be boarding the train anytime soon, to be honest,” Jack confessed.

The showman smiled impishly, pulling Jack even closer: Daniel Atlas hated being in close proximity with people, in general. Heck, there were so many things he thought he could never do in this life until Jack Wilder well and truly became a part of his life: sharing his personal space with another person was one, but with Jack, he never seemed to mind anything – just as long as it was Jack.

“Maybe it was me thinking that I couldn’t take another day of pulling my head out of my ass, or waiting for you to pull yours out of yours,” Danny mused. “Maybe it was me thinking that, oh shit, if I don’t move, some better person like Jasmine Tressler or Lula would realize their mistake and snatch you back up, and never let you go this time. But I always thought that maybe it was just you.”

Jack raised his eyebrows in mock outrage. “Oh, so it’s my fault now?”

“Maybe it was just you,” Danny repeated. “Because I couldn’t bring myself to stay away from you. You know I couldn’t, and I hope you know by now that I probably never could.”

The sleight smiled. “I’ll hold you to that.”

_And there's certain things that I adore  
And there's certain things that I ignore  
But I'm certain that I'm yours_

Jack realized that so much had changed in so little time: he never would have thought this time last year that he would be swaying to the beautiful melody with J. Daniel Atlas, his best friends in different corners of the dance floor, hopefully dancing with someone who made them feel almost like how Danny made him feel.

This time last year, Jack never thought that he would be this high on the thrill of their heists, high on knowing that they went through what they did and came out of it in one piece.

So much had changed, but really, Jack wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I have a question this time,” Danny said suddenly. “When you… when you were gone,” the showman paused, taking a deep breath, holding on to Jack even tighter. “How did you do it?”

Jack didn’t have to be a literature major to realize how loaded the question was: he only had to meet the troubled blue eyes of the man he loved and keep himself from drowning in the showman’s fears, thoughts, feelings, and hopes. He had prepared the answer to this question months ago: in fact, from the time that he knew where he was headed. 

It started with a simple translation of the question: _how could you leave me?_ Translating it was simple. He now knew that he knew Danny better than anyone else in the world.

Answering the question was the more difficult part of the equation: Jack could tell Danny how he wanted to make sure that the plan was perfectly executed, and that would lead them to ultimately being a true part of The Eye, something they had both wanted even before they wanted each other. He could tell Danny that he wanted to prove himself, give them all an easier time out of it, and get the job done as quickly as possible, so they could be together sooner. He could tell Danny that he did it knowing that there was something bigger than the rest of them at the end of the line.

But now, Jack knew that wasn’t true: there was nothing, absolutely nothing, bigger and better than he and J. Daniel Atlas together at the end of the line. He had fooled himself with the belief there was more than a best friend, more than a partner, more than a co-performer, more than a lover, waiting for him at the end of the line.

Jack Wilder had assured himself of a purpose, a goal that would give his life even more meaning than it already had, but now he knew that it had always been there: it was, it always was, and always will be creating magic with Danny, for Danny, because of Danny.

His mind was lost in so many answers that he had prepared for Danny, who was looking at him with soft blue eyes, and he opened his mouth with the full intention of telling Danny everything that was running in his mind.

Instead, the sleight kissed the showman deeply, putting lips over lips, saying everything that he couldn’t articulate.

_And you're like a shoulder to turn to  
Cause certain things burn just when we're hanging on for dear life  
We held on so tight_

Danny was hypnotized. He normally hated crowds, but with every wave of movement that sent him and Jack careening together, he was never more thankful for people smelling of the gentle night. He and Jack didn’t even need to move: the beating of his heart matched the slow cadence of the music, and he couldn’t look away from Jack’s dark eyes, even as Jack broke their long, delicious kiss.

He realized that he and Jack had only ever been together on the dance floor once prior to this. He found it magical that this second time, something seemed to bring them even closer still, though in a very different way from the first time: here they both were, holding each other tenderly in the middle of the dark dance floor, holding each other like they were each other’s lifeline.

As Jack looked at him tenderly, his brown eyes full of desire and… Daniel felt his stomach swoop as though he had missed several steps going down, or he was falling from a dream at the top of a tower as he realized what he was seeing in Jack’s eyes. The loss of control was something he embraced entirely, and though he didn’t say it too often, he felt the words tumbling right out of his mouth.

“I love you,” Danny whispered.

_I've got no reason to doubt you  
'Cause certain things hurt  
And you're my only virtue  
And I'm virtually yours_

Nothing but the rhythm was moving them together. Jack smiled as he put his hands on Danny’s face, pausing in the middle of the dance floor. He felt his best friend, his boyfriend, his partner, his lover – the person who mattered the most in the world to him – shiver under his touch. He stroked Danny’s face like he was the most precious thing in the world.

Lord God, may someone smite J. Daniel Atlas where he stood now, because he was sure nothing in the world felt better than Jack Wilder’s hands on his face, cradling him as though he were the most breakable treasure on earth—

“I love you, too,” Jack said, his eyes crinkling up in a smile.

Danny huffed. “Damn straight you do.”

Jack laughed, and Danny once more drank in just how beautiful it was to hear Jack Wilder laugh – he definitely could live with it. The laugh dissolved as the song ended, and Jack looked at him with that infuriatingly perfect gaze.

“You aren’t going anywhere, are you, Danny?” he said softly.

Danny scoffed. “Wasn’t planning to.”


	20. December 2008: For Times Gone By

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I lost you once.”
> 
> “You won’t this time.”
> 
> A beat of silence. Then – “You promise?”
> 
> Another beat of silence, broken only by lips parting a few seconds later. “You better go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES: The time has come for the final chapter! No words can express my gratitude to all reviewers, followers, those who have honored me with the click of the ‘favorite’ or the ‘kudos’ button. It has been a pleasure to escape to the wonderful world of Jack and Danny, and while we’re waiting for the amazing heist that is NYSM 3 (!), keep the love burning for #AtlastJack. And because this is the last chapter, I cannot stress these points enough:
> 
> 1) This is primarily a Lover’s Death story.
> 
> 2) I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.
> 
> 3) Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
> 
> 4) Again, THANK YOU. 

**_December 25th  
01:15_ **

Walter Mabry was having a particularly bad day.

It didn’t help that he had been on edge for more than a month now, and still no word from The Horsemen. The businesses suffered, and his investors were pulling out, one by one. Whatever little relationship he had worked to develop with his newly-discovered father had gotten increasingly tense and bitter, their small exchanges now limited to spats as to why Walter’s team was too incompetent for them to pinpoint exactly where The Horsemen were keeping their heads low.

He didn’t celebrate Christmas, but he hoped to whatever deity was listening to him that he could receive something good for this year, because his day couldn’t possibly get any worse.

“Sir, sir!” one of his communications executive cried out as she ran to him in four-inch heels, with a tablet in hand. “This just came in, sir.” she said as she handed him the tablet.

He looked up sharply. “What is this?”

She looked at him, part scared, part sympathetic. “The Horsemen, sir.”

Walter Mabry was wrong: his day did just get worse.

The five magicians were standing in a single line, the screen carefully devoid of a backdrop and background noises that could give away their location.

Jack Wilder, at the left end of the line, spoke first, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “Not long ago, we were tricked. I was exposed and brought back from the dead,” he drawled.

The dark-haired self-decapitator on Jack’s left smirked. “So we thought it was only fitting to do the same to the person who did it to us,” she said amusedly, her blue eyes twinkling.

Walter’s heart pounded in his chest as he said in a tight voice, “Get my father.”

“Midnight, New Year’s Eve, London,” Henley chimed in. “Mark your calendars, folks, and don’t you miss our shows!”

Next to Henley, at the right end of the line, Daniel Atlas grinned, hands in his pocket. “We will be performing a series of shows that connect to our big finale, so pay close attention.”

“RUN!” Walter shouted.

The mentalist, at the very center of the line, took a step forward and smiled toothily at the camera. “So, leave your kiddies at home and get ready for a wild night, because we too will bring someone back from the dead.”

The camera pans to Atlas, who winked and snapped his fingers, screen instantly cutting to black.

In a very remote location in London, Christmas cheer was high with the said Horsemen.

**_December 28th  
11:43_ **

“We just broke our best record, guys,” Henley said happily, waving her phone in the air. “Six million views in two days, Merry Christmas!”

Dylan smiled indulgently. “Not quite yet, Henley. We still have to make sure that everything goes as planned.”

“Or everything does not go as planned, as planned,” Merritt corrected impishly.

Lula shook her head. “Let’s just say that everything goes as planned. Let’s not jinx it.”

“Hey, what’s the worst that can happen?” Jack chimed in lazily from his corner in the room.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Lula retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm. “We get caught and jailed on national television?”

“That’s only a problem if you look god-awful on camera,” the sleight said playfully, standing up and striking a very sensual pose that made Danny’s cheeks grow warm.

The showman blinked twice to clear his head before saying. “Dylan’s right, guys. I know we’re confident about the plan, and I know we’re all pretty damn good,” he smiled as Merritt gave a whoop of assent. “But we’ve got to keep our head in the game. We’ll celebrate afterwards.”

The sleight sprinted over and put his arm around his boyfriend, drawing him closer. “Your treat?” Jack said lightly.

“No, yours,” Danny said easily, mischief sparkling in his blue eyes as he bumped their noses together.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Merritt protested, mock-shielding his eyes. “That’s a little too much exhibition for me.”

“Oh, shut up, you,” Henley laughed throatily as she put her arms around Merritt’s neck and silenced him by pressing her lips over his for the longest period of time, possibly sending the mentalist into a shocked state, even as she took a step back minutes later, waving a gloved hand. “Earth to McKinney,” she said loudly.

Merritt blinked twice. “I, uh…” his hands gestured uselessly. “Did you just… hmm.”

“Problem?” the escape artist piped up.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what happened to ‘we don’t need to share whatever it is we have with the whole damn world’?” he asked, eyes twinkling.

Henley shrugged, her long red hair glinting in the sun as she planted a kiss on Merritt’s nose. “Sometimes, we gotta share it if it’s that good,” she said simply.

“Oh, come on!” Lula said loudly, half-jokingly. “Can you four please stop being so cute? You just reminded me that I’m going to have to wait ten more days before I reunite with my own cuddle-bunny.”

Danny’s eyebrow quirked impishly. “Did you just call Connor Yates, your maybe-maybe-not boyfriend, your ‘ _cuddle-bunny_ ’?” he asked innocently.

“Hey, back off, Atlas,” she said languidly. “I’m not about to make fun of whatever it is you call Jack when you think you’re alone.”

Both men visibly paled at her looming threat. Dylan chuckled, looking between Jack and Danny, who had suddenly gone very quiet. “My curiosity is now quite high as to what this nickname is,” he said with a laugh.

“I’ll tell you next time they make fun of me, Dylan,” Lula promised.

Henley turned to Lula, her eyes shining. “And how is your gorgeous boyfriend, Lula? Is he watching the show?”

After only three weeks of dating, Lula had been given the clear to tell Connor Yates about their real identities, making him the only one on campus who knew about The Horsemen. Danny remembered the anxiety that had filled the room when Lula had Connor over for drinks, and they had peeled off their disguises one by one.

The artist had taken it in stride, going as far as to confess that while he heard of them, he never really followed what it is they did on national television. While it was a huge relief that their secret identities changed nothing for Connor and Lula, Danny had to admit that it stung his ego quite a bit to know that at least one person did not know or care much for whatever it is they had gone through in the last year.

While the others were busy bringing up Connor to speed as to what they had done in the last year, Jack had nudged him and quietly said, “It looks like your ego’s getting a bit of a pounding there, Atlas.”

Danny gave him a half-smile, amazed at how Jack seemed to just get him like that. “That obvious?”

“I gotta admit, I feel you, Danny,” Jack confessed. “But hey – I think this is the start of our best shot into whatever the heck’s normal. I think we’ve wanted that more than we know, just being… you know, you or me.”

Danny said nothing, instead taking a long look at the newcomer, and how Lula glowed radiantly just looking at him – he never thought he would see her light up the way she did for anyone, and he realized now that there was nothing in the world he wouldn’t give up for any of these people around him to be as happy as he was. He was gazing intently at Connor, with his messy dark hair, his shining brown eyes, his lean physique…

“You’re looking at Connor Yates in a way that makes me feel like two inches high, Danny,” Jack said jokingly, though his gaze was slightly worried. “You reconsidering us here?”

The showman scoffed. “Like that could happen. But… you have to admit, the resemblance is pretty uncanny.”

Danny brought himself back from the memory of his boyfriend’s indignant face and into reality as Lula gave a dreamy smile, her glow coming from within at the mention of her boyfriend’s name.

“He said he’d stream it, but I actually saw the end of a boarding pass to London between his sketchbook the other day. So I’m thinking I—we might see him after the show,” she grinned.

“Sounds fantastic, Lu,” Henley said happily, clapping her hands excitedly. “Gosh, I just… I just can’t wait for this show! Aren’t you guys excited?”

“Sure, I am, love,” Merritt said, holding Henley by the waist. “But honestly, I’m more excited to whoop my professors and classmates silly with good old psychology. I think I made a pretty good student before I became the best magician to walk this earth.”

Danny snorted. “Still so modest, Merritt.”

“Sorry,” Merritt corrected himself. “When I became one of the six best magicians to walk this earth. Happy?”

The showman shrugged. “Mmm, okay, tell yourself that.”

The mentalist laughed. “Asswipe.”

Dylan looked at his team happily, and in that moment, he knew that absolutely nothing in this world could go wrong. 

**_December 31st  
16:03_ **

“Everything is going to SHIT!” Walter cried out in frustration. “None of our teams can find even a hair of The Horsemen! What the hell is wrong with the teams?”

“Calm down, boy,” Arthur Tressler snapped impatiently. “They love a show, but they aren’t nearly as smart enough to keep things interesting. There is always, always a pattern. We just have to find it.”

Walter took a calming breath, nodded, and picked up his phone. “Yes, use everything we have right now: texts, tweets, Instagrams. Anything that says "Horsemen," brags about seeing the Horsemen, tag them and bundle them. Dad, who do we have security-wise on this? Your guys?”

“Whoever you want, boy,” Tressler replied.

“Well, we want all of them and all their friends. Anyone who wants to work stationed throughout the city, so they can be anywhere in 60 seconds,” Walter said into the phone. “I want all eyes and ears on The Horsemen, everything and anything they’re doing, and I want to nail them where they are!”

**_18:57_ **

“Well, first show.”

“You nervous?”

“Hell, no.”

“Liar.”

“Okay, then, a bit. But so are you.”

“Obviously.”

“Why the hell?”

“I lost you once.”

“You won’t this time.”

A beat of silence. Then – “You promise?”

Another beat of silence, broken only by lips parting a few seconds later. “You better go.”

There was a shuffling of feet, and the capped man walked towards the pounding rhythm of tin drums, feeling the ghost of another pair of lips on his with the back of his hand as he jumped up a makeshift stage, removing his cap and instantly earning the attention of the small crowd around him.

“Hello! Hey!” the sleight cried, the crowd screaming and whooping, recognizing him almost instantly. “My name's Jack Wilder. Goddamn, it feels good to be back.”

And it really did, Jack thought to himself as he watched the crowd magically grow in size, people whipping out their smartphones, jostling to be close to him. It was an amazing high, one that he realized he really would miss, but looking at the alternative he had: a peaceful few years in college with Danny, and his best friends… well, it wasn’t much of a competition, really.

“All right, gather around. Indulge me. I wanna talk to you about something real quick. You all know Three Card Monte, also known as "Find the Lady"? Trick performed by street hustlers all over the world. And why street hustlers? Because as soon as you walk up to the table, you lose. Every time. Let me demonstrate…”

**_19:55_ **

How a large tank full of water was virtually unnoticed by hundreds of passersby could be attributed to the air of festivities surrounding London, but Henley knew it didn’t matter. She was here to stop traffic and give this part of London a show they aren’t about to forget.

“Whoo! Okay, London, are we ready to end this thing?” Henley screamed into the night as the lights turned to her and the large water tank. People stopped and gazed up at her, cheering and whooping as she took off her coat and stepped gingerly over her clothes.

“Yeah! When that timer hits zero, a tank full of flesh-eating piranhas will fall from above me. A lady has to have handcuffs. Right, girls?” A masked stagehand rushes to her and secures her wrists with handcuffs, stepping out of sight to the cheer of the crowd.

“Count with me, London! One! Two! Three!”

**_20:52_ **

Much to Danny’s relief, Jack’s and Henley’s respective shows went without a hitch, and he knew that both the FBI and Mabry’s team were scrambling around like headless chickens trying to pin them down. So far, everything was going according to plan, and he intended to keep it that way.

He took his mark and started to remove his drenched hood just as the blue lights lit up the darkness. He waved to the applauding crowd sheepishly, rubbing his hands together, the incredible thrill of the show filling him up to the brim.

“Okay, I guess you found me!” Danny said with a smile as people took his photo, a video of J. Daniel Atlas in action, and in moments like this, he wouldn’t deny how much of an egotist he was. “I have a confession to make. I've been told I have some control issues. I guess most of you have seen that little mess unfold in the last couple of months—“

“Atlas and Wilder for life!” an enthusiastic voice cried from the back of the crowd, earning a round of applause from everyone, and causing Danny’s cheeks to color as he nodded, a smile on his face.

“Thank you, I hope so too,” he said almost shyly. “But anyway, I've learned that it's really, really hard to control people – speaking of, by the way, it’s just one of those things you learn and painfully accept if you decide you want to be with Jack Wilder for the rest of your life,” he added peevishly, earning encouraging screams from the crowd.

Danny clapped his hands twice. “So tonight, I'm gonna try to control something that's a lot easier than people. I'm gonna try to control the weather.”

A disbelieving but excited buzz filled his ears as people started to edge closer to him, not wanting to miss a trick. They never do learn – the closer you look, the less you’ll see, after all – but he was never more grateful for their forgetfulness.

“Yeah, rain, um... It'd be a little difficult to make it rain, right? That would be something that only God can do, right? I'm gonna do something that God can't do. I'm not just gonna make it clear up. No, no, no. I'm gonna make it actually – stop.”

**_21:58_ **

Lula understood what role each of them had to play: they worked as a single organism, and what each of them did separately only made sense when you put it together.

Still, though, she did wish she had a better role to play in tonight’s show: the crowd was increasingly disengaged, and even in her mind, she knew that her tricks weren’t exactly the brightest or most exciting ones, especially compared to all the things that Jack, Henley, and Danny pulled off before her. But her role was pivotal, a distraction from the main show set-up, and she wanted to play her part of blundering magician well.

But not before she had a little fun.

“Wow, right? Look at that!” she cried as the pigeon from her coat flew away. “Aw. Come on, people. Tough crowd.” Lula snapped her attention dramatically to an innocent bystander. “You, fly!”

“Me?” the man said innocently.

“Check your fly,” she clarified as he did just that, sending a pigeon flying from his pants, earning her first delighted cheer from the crowd. She laughed incredulously. “You like that? You support that relationship? That guy had a bird in his pants. That's disgusting!”

**_22:57_ **

Merritt grit his teeth, heart still pounding from the exchange he had with Chase.

“Hey, broski-whaddya-knowski? Where you headed?” Chase asked innocently, falling in step with him.

Merritt took a deep breath. “Please, bro, don't do this.”

“Where are you headed?” Chase said playfully, forcing Merritt’s gaze on his own. “North, south, east?” Merritt tried to keep himself from twitching. “East. Tower of London? Tower Bridge? Near Tower Bridge?” He allowed a bit of air to escape through his nostrils. “The Thames! You're going to the Thamesy-Whemsy! You're so easy!”

The mentalist made a last-ditch effort to reach out to his brother. He really didn’t want to get into this if he could help it. “Bro, if there's any chance of us ever having a relationship...”

“There's not,” his twin cut him off pleasantly before plowing on. “Where's your entry? South Bank? Greenwich?” Merritt blinked, cursing himself with every gesture he made as Chase’s eyes widened. “Greenwich! I know where you're going!” he said gleefully as he started to walk away.

“Where are Merritt and Henley?” he heard Dylan’s voice as he rounded the corner into view.

“I don't know,” Danny said tersely.

“I'm here!” Merritt cried as he swung over a motorcycle, Jack silently strapping up next to him, still as sneaky as ever.

“Here!” Henley said somewhat breathlessly as she appeared from behind Merritt.

The sleight frowned and looked around. “Where's Lula?”

“I'm right here! What the hell happened?” Lula cried out in a panic.

“My goddamn brother happened,” Merritt said angrily.

“Don't worry about it. We just gotta get to the destination,” Dylan said in a reassuring voice, but Merritt detected the hint of nervousness in their leader’s timbre.

“Come on, let’s go!” Jack said impatiently, revving up his bike to catapult forward.

“Jack, no—!” Dylan cried out in alarm as Danny’s eyes widened, following the sudden movement of the sleight.

Gunshots rang into the night as Jack nearly collided with an incoming van, sending him flying from his bike and on the ground. Danny’s blue eyes turned dangerously steely as he rode straight into the incoming mob, his bike separating the guns of the goons from the recovering body of the sleight.

“Not my boyfriend, you shitheads,” Danny said coldly as he revved his bike and drove into them, dispersing the small crowd in a panic.

“Jesus, that’s hot,” Jack huffed with a smile as he stumbled around the car to help his boyfriend take down a few more of the idiots spilling out of their cars.

In the next seconds, pandemonium broke, Horsemen against henchmen, and they almost got away, they really did, but Merritt went and lost control over his bike, never having ridden one in his life, and damn it, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all—

“Those things are really dangerous!” Merritt said angrily, his hands up in the air.

**_23:38_ **

Walter Mabry was positively glowing.

It was over, it was done, and he won: he couldn’t believe how worried he was just mere hours ago, when he thought they could actually get away with it.

“You know, you make it almost too easy?” he said with a little laugh, eyeing the six magicians, glaring daggers at him: the clear and unwilling sign that they have been beaten. “I mean, even your hilarious attempts to make yourselves unpredictable, just follow the same pattern each time. Set up, set up, set up… big reveal. Which tonight was going to be stroke of midnight, middle of the Thames?”

He paused for dramatic effect, looking at all of them: Henley, Lula, and Merritt didn’t even bother to contain their panic while Rhodes desperately tried to keep a straight face. Atlas and Wilder, the two little lovers, looked positively furious. “Tell me if I'm warm…?” Walter chimed in innocently. When no one said anything, he sighed. “Well, there will be a big reveal, and it will come now.”

“The stick, dear boy,” his father addressed Rhodes.

Rhodes said nothing for a few seconds before shaking his head. “No.”

Walter looked at him blankly. “Fine.” He looked at his henchman, gesturing to Lula. “Start with her.”

“Jesus, Lula, no!” Henley cried out in panic as Wilder immediately sprung to his feet, the muscle next to Lula unsheathing a small dagger from his pocket. “Dylan, for Christ’s sakes, it didn’t go according to plan, just give the stick!” she said, tears filling her dark eyes.

The leader rubbed his face in frustration before turning to Atlas, who was suspiciously still in his seat. “Atlas, just… give it to him,” Rhodes said resignedly.

Atlas’ eyes widened slightly, but he otherwise remained still.

“Atlas, give him the card,” Lula pressed, a desperate edge on her voice.

He looked at her blankly, then at Rhodes shaking his head, mumbling, “Just give it to him.”

Nothing, however, seemed to reach the showman until Jack Wilder turned to him, his eyes wide. “Danny, come on,” he said with a slight edge to his voice.

The showman glared at the sleight before clenching his jaw and flicking his wrist, revealing a black card case. Walter grinned and moved to take the card case, turning the chip in his hand as the muscle next to Jack Wilder forced him back on his seat. He looked alternately between Atlas and Wilder, who were decidedly avoiding each other’s gaze like two high school students: it really was a shame he had to kill them, amusing as they were.

He nudged Atlas playfully. “You do like to show your hand, don’t you, Danny?” he gloated as he walked away. “Let’s have a closer look at this thing, shall we?”

A few moments of tense silence filled the plane, before—

“Okay, I owe you an apology,” Dylan said suddenly.

Danny chuckled darkly. “Leader, you should have planned an escape, okay?”

Dylan shook his head. “This is the both of us.”

The showman raised his manacled hands exasperatedly. “Okay, it's the both of us. Sure, it is.”

“Guys, come on!” Henley interjected angrily. “This won’t get us anywhere—“

“Henley, just please—“

Wilder huffed angrily. “Come on, guys, just stop!”

Danny turned to Jack, shaking in anger. “And you!” his voice breaking slightly as he addressed Jack.

“What?” Jack snapped.

“You, to save your little girlfriend!” the showman spat bitterly.

“To save my... what?!” Jack spluttered as his eyes widened angrily. “Jesus, he had a knife to her head, Danny, what was I—“

“I'm a Horseman, you dick!” Lula cut off Jack’s angry retort. “Get over yourself, Atlas! How many damn times do I have to say that Jack and I are ancient fucking history—!”

“All right, you know what? This is not the time,” Danny said dismissively, his eyes cold, but Lula wasn’t done as she turned to Merritt.

“And you, what's your deal, man?” she ranted at the mentalist.

“Lula, calm down!” Henley said angrily, coming to Merritt’s defense immediately. “Look, they're not gonna get blood all over the seats.”

“Yeah, they're probably gonna throw us out of the plane,” Merritt said dully.

“Really? That’s supposed to make this better?” Lula snarled.

Amusing as the exchange was, Walter Mabry found one thing more important. “I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just have to say congratulations. And thank you!” At the befuddled look at all six of the faces before him, he clarified, “It’s real. The stick’s real.”

A disbelieving buzz rose from the magicians as Walter gestured to his guards. “Bring them through.”

“Well done, my boy,” Tressler smiled down at him, and Walter felt an unbelievable surge of affection and pride at having made his father proud. It really was his one reason for getting into all this in the first place, and as he watched his father pick up a bottle from the chiller, he knew it was definitely all worth it.

Tressler caressed the bottle lovingly. “Cote Du Marisule champagne. It's the most expensive bottle on Earth. $1.2 million. And I saved it just for this occasion.”

“Honestly, same bottle, Liquor Shack, 700K,” Merritt said lightly. Walter rolled his eyes at the inane attempt at light talk.

“Hey. You got what you wanted. So, does this mean you're letting us go?” Rhodes demanded.

Walter frowned at him. “Knowing what you know about us? No.”

Rhodes quirked an eyebrow at him, calmly saying, “You sure?”

Walter tried to swallow down the feeling of unease he got at the agent’s calmness: an old trick, just a last-ditch attempt to distract them. He turned to the mentalist’s brother. “Chase, what shall we do?”

A heartbeat of silence, then Chase smiled. “Toss them out,” he said simply, pressing a button that opened the door.

“Get your last words in quickly, everybody!” Walter said cheerfully as the struggle exploded, stopping in front of the furiously straining Atlas and Wilder. “You best better tell each other where you’re going to meet in the afterlife, yeah?”

He heard Merritt’s last sentimental words about leaving the world with the right family before he was thrown out of the plane, Chase gloating about how he kicked Merritt out of their mother’s womb. Walter rolled his eyes at the drama unfolding before him.

“Merritt!” Henley screeched, sobbing angrily as she doubled her efforts to struggle. “You—goddamn—AHH!”

“No!” Dylan gasped angrily, trying to take down his captors, but too many overpowered him, and he was thrown out almost immediately after Henley.

Lula struggled to hold on to every inch she could find, determined to go down with a fight, and Walter watched as she gazed at Jack with dead eyes, even as he struggled to reach her. She mouthed a small ‘thank you’ as the muscle yanked her away and threw her out of the door.

“NO!” Jack Wilder cried like an angry bull. “JESUS, LULA—“

“Time to hit the road, Jack!” Chase said cheerfully as the other men held down and overpowered Jack.

“Make those last words count, boys!” Walter said cheerfully, giving the signal for the guards to force the two to face each other.

“Jesus, Walter, don’t—not Jack, please—“ Atlas was practically sobbing, furiously straining against his captors. “Not again, please, not again, I’ll do anything—“

“Don’t you dare, Danny,” Jack shouted furiously, looking at Atlas with hard eyes. “Don’t you—AHH!”

There was a moment of dead silence, and Daniel Atlas went limp in his captor’s arms for a split second, before unshed tears and rage leaked from his eyes, his struggles renewed and stronger than ever. “NO! JACK! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, PLEASE—!”

“A lot of brain, but not enough brawn!” Chase said in a singsong voice. “Time to go follow lover boy into oblivion!” he said happily as the final Horseman was thrown out of the door. He turned to Walter and Tressler with a satisfied smirk on his face. “Oh, that was fun!”

His father turned to Walter with a fond look on his face, holding up a full glass of champagne. “Cheers! Well done, my boy,” he said warmly before taking a generous sip from the drink… and promptly spitting it back out.

Walter Mabry, cultured as he was, never quite tasted anything as repulsive as the stuff he was drinking now. But out of deference to his father, he took another careful sip, asking timidly, “Is it… um… is it supposed to taste like that?”

Tressler’s eyes darkened. “No, it is not.”

A heavy feeling lodged itself inside Walter’s chest as his father tore off the label from the bottle, revealing a tarot card just as the lights inside their plane dimmed. He heard the sound of voices, gloating, gleeful voices that haunted his nightmares, just as their disembodied heads from the window would forever follow him.

Shit.

**_23:50_ **

“Ladies and gentlemen... The Horsemen!” the announcer cried excitedly as the walls around them broke down to allow the sound of the screaming crowd to fill the night air.

As he clung to the most important people in his life, Danny never felt better, watching as Tressler and his son peeked out of the aircraft door fearfully.

“No, no, you should feel pretty good about yourself, man. You predicted it correctly. The Thames, stroke of midnight. New Year's Eve. Happy New Year!” he said mockingly as comprehension dawned on the father/son duo’s faces. The Thames burst into applause and cheers as Tressler and Walter tried to make a run for it, only to be blocked by the waiting guards in their way.

“Wow! Thank you very much, London! We would like to acknowledge not just our old friend, Arthur Tressler,” Henley said happily, pausing after his name to allow the crowd to express their displeasure at his presence. “But we also want to acknowledge his young and very brilliant son, Walter Mabry.”

“Walter has performed one of the greatest feats of illusion even we have ever seen. He has, amazingly, brought himself back from the dead!” Lula said in mock amazement and reverence.

“But before he did that, he revealed someone, and we thought that it was only fitting to give this someone a proper introduction,” Merritt said empathically.

Jack grinned cheekily as he stepped up next to Danny, taking the showman’s hand in his, and the crowd grew positively wild. “We were both forced back into the public’s eye, but this man is our friend, and our leader – Dylan Shrike, everyone!”

Deafening applause greeted Dylan as he shyly stepped up, and the rest of them discreetly stepped back: this was his first show, after all, and his big reveal. He walked through the tricks artfully, calling on each of them when needed: the switches from Jack, the flight from Lula and Danny, the disappearances from Henley, the deception from Merritt.

When it was Jack’s cue again, Danny squeezed his hand and reluctantly let his hand go. “Basically, we showed them everything. How you kidnapped us to steal the very thing that is in your pocket right now.” He looked at Walter, who seemed to realize too late that even that part of the plan was amiss.

Jack grinned at him and nudged his boyfriend, who promptly winked as he said, “Whoops!” before flicking his wrist, revealing the card that had been so carelessly stowed in Walter Mabry’s pocket mere minutes before.

Henley gave a disapproving cluck of her tongue as she looked at the disgraced father and son. “You know, this thing here, which you said you could use to adjust markets, manipulate governments, and spy on whomever you choose.”

“Also, you could, as you said, control the public from outside the grid,” Lula said scathingly.

“These men destroy people's lives. Spying on the world, robbing you of your right to privacy!” Dylan said empathically, the crowd falling silent to his statement. “And they do that by hiding in the dark. So, in the Horsemen tradition, we're here to expose them. Tonight, they, like all of us, are finally stepping into the light!”

“Thank you, everybody!” Henley cried out.

“We are the Horsemen and we will be back very soon!” Danny closed off their show excitedly as sirens started wailing in the distance and the din of the crowd threatened to split the very skies above them.

“FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!”

The sky lit up as fireworks exploded, the deep tolling of Big Ben sang in perfect harmony with the high-pitched screams of the crowd, and the sirens were drawing ever-closer. It was a perfect, perfect, absolutely perfect feeling, but really, as he surveyed the crowd, the strangers around them, his family, and finally the one person who meant more to him than everything else combined, none of it mattered as much as Danny thought it would.

Jack’s brown eyes were positively blown with excitement, adrenaline, and – dare Danny say it – desire as he boldly took the steps forward to meet Danny halfway, both seizing each other – one by the shoulders, one by the waist – and roughly pressing their lips together. The screams seemed to intensify, but Danny honestly paid it no mind, all his senses working on overdrive just to feel the man in his arms, to breathe in the familiar musk that he had grown to associate with home, to taste the sweetness of Jack’s lips on his tongue, to close his eyes and lose himself in the oblivion of the fantasy that is Jack Wilder.

He was vaguely aware of the other four crowding against them good-naturedly. “Hey, we’re on the clock!” Merritt’s playful voice broke into their reverie.

“Get a move on and get a room, you two!” Lula said in mock irritation.

Danny felt Jack’s lips curl into a smile underneath his lips. “They’re right, though, we do have to move,” he hummed.

“Mmm,” Danny said contentedly, though still not removing his lips from Jack’s.

“Atlas,” Jack said in a low voice, instantly getting the desired reaction from Danny, who took a careful step back to survey the man he loved, though never letting go of his hands. “We’ll wrap this up later, yeah? We’ve got time.” His dark eyes twinkled dangerously. “I know you’ve got the plans in place, Atlas.”

Danny’s face broke into a grin. “All the plans, and all the time in the world,” he agreed as they broke into a manic run for the rest of their lives. “Let’s go, then, Wilder.”


End file.
